


Silence is a Virtue but Death Talks a Lot

by jminbee



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst, Chan is a necromancer, Changbin is a shapeshifter, Felix is a black eyed being, Fluff, He’s basically a shapeshifter like changbin but he stays in his form more, Hyunjin is a nymph, I will be tagging any warnings in the chapters, I.N is a Hedge witch, Inconsistent updating, Kinda, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Seungmin is a Hellhound, Slow Burn, Tags are so confusing, and so is Han, but also related??, but different ones, he’s pretty new to it so, idk we will cross that bridge when we get there, lee know is a vampire, once again we will cross that bridge eventually
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:14:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 34,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25672627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jminbee/pseuds/jminbee
Summary: Most people believe that it is Fate that brings people together, that helps the most broken and distraught people come and mend. But Death can do the same, just in a different way.
Relationships: Bang Chan/Everyone, Han Jisung | Han/Everyone, Kim Seungmin/Everyone, Lee Felix (Stray Kids)/Everyone, Lee Minho | Lee Know/Everyone, Seo Changbin/Everyone, Yang Jeongin | I.N/Everyone
Comments: 14
Kudos: 63





	1. Death has a weird way of showing favoritism

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Fate is a Fickle Being](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22026607) by [bubblebubblebubbletea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bubblebubblebubbletea/pseuds/bubblebubblebubbletea). 



> hello hello !! This is my first story in a while (I haven’t written one since my Wattpad days ~shivers~) and so I’m pretty nervous about posting but I really want others to read this story. So here it is! I’m also pretty new to posting on ao3 so this note system is interesting to me.

(tw: needle mentions, blood mentions, stitching (??) pain medication mention )

Chan used to hate the emptiness, the lonely silence that oozes from the walls of his home reminded him of how much of an outsider he was from society, how they banished him due to his “weird antics” and told tales of the “crazy guy in the woods who talks to the dead.” Now? Chan wishes that the emptiness would come back, or for something to happen to stop Death’s persistent pestering.

“Please get to the point Death, this is the second charm that you’ve messed up with your aura and I really don’t want to head back into town so early in the week.”

When Death ignored him, Chan huffed and shuffled away from his work space, having to find a different place to complete his client’s charm.

As he settled into one of his rooms of study, he heard something drop and break in the work space and a sudden feeling of embarrassment came afterwards. If only the mortal world realized how much of a klutz Death was, they wouldn’t be so afraid of them. “ _Or maybe they would be”_ Chan thought as he felt another wave of embarrassment grip his home, hoping that it wasn’t something super important.

After a few moments of tinkering with the charm and the feeling of unease settling onto him, which is a bad thing considering Death was just in the other room, Chan stretched and headed back to his original work space. After opening the door, he stiffened and gripped the door handle tightly. The aura and smell of unease and fear surrounded Death and it carried weight throughout the room.

“I have made a grave mistake, I’ve been playing a game of pretend and it has now gone in a terrible direction.” Chan’s eyes widened and he immediately started collecting his bag of charms and chalk, stumbling a bit since the aura was suffocating and making it hard to breath in his tiny work space.

“You finally did it huh? Finally played as Fate and gave one of your children a “purpose” in this life? What did you tell them to make them think that this world would accept them?” 

“There’s no time for explanations, please hurry and save them. I’ve made them naive with my promises and their soul is filled with a sense of hope that I had no business giving them.”

Chan sighed grimly and opened the front door of his home, not turning around to give Death a second glance, hoping that they will be gone before he returned. 

**——**

Ever since Chan started learning about necromancy, he never had a morbid fear of Death. He saw them, not as a means to an end, but as a peaceful release. Death didn’t take souls but they were given them when Life and Fate had their fun and got bored of the mundane hopes and dreams many had. Life and Fate were as cruel as people made Death out to be;while Death was gentle and gave people freedom from the constant fears of life. 

But Death wanted to be praised and loved as much as Fate and Life. They were tired of being feared and _only_ feared. They longed to give hope and to have a sense of pride swell within them as their children, the undead, fulfilled the dreams that they lost the chance to in the mortal world. 

So that’s why when Chan emerged from the forest and heard screams and glass breaking in the distance, he knew where he would need to intervene. Although Death only meant the best, the mortal world already has a preexisting belief in the undead and doesn’t take too lightly to those who dare challenge it.

Chan rushed over, seeing the disarray of the small cul de sac, and immediately placed his hood over his head. He needed to get whoever was here out in one piece and he didn’t need anyone to mistake him as being the one who started all of this. He stayed mostly in the shadows, searching for some sign of the misled child of Death. As he was entering an alleyway, he heard some sniffling and cursing coming from behind some of the trash cans. He released a breath that he didn’t know he was holding and walked towards the sounds.

“Don’t be alarmed, I’m a friend” Chan whispered as he got closer to the source of the sounds, crouching down and crawling since he didn’t want to scare whoever this child of Death was. When he finally got around the trash cans, his gaze met one of fear and uncertainty, so he stood still and gave the man a small smile.

The child, or actually, the man cowered in fear and hissed harshly when Chan tried to reach his hand towards him, curling into himself. If there wasn’t a brick wall and a large gash on his abdomen, Chan believes that he would’ve gotten far worse than a hiss.

“Please, let me help you. We need to get out of here before the town’s people find you.” Chan said as he started rummaging through his bag, pulling two necklaces out.

“This has a charm to give you temporary invisibility while we escape, do you want me to put it on for you or do you want to do it yourself?” The man held up two fingers so Chan placed the charm near him before putting on the other necklace. 

“I can’t stand..” Chan smiled internally, happy that the man was comfortable enough to start to speak. He got up from his crouched position and slowly came closer to the man. He was worse for wear, having more than just the gash on his stomach; cuts and deep holes also littered his arms. Chan’s stomach churned and there was a burn deep within him, he didn’t even realize that he was glaring until he saw the man shy away from him.

“I’m sorry, please forgive me I am not mad at you, let me help you up.” Chan carefully wrapped his arm under the man’s underarm and lifted him up gradually, not wanting to cause the man to lose any more blood. Then he took gentle steps, letting the man use the wall to lean up against when it got too painful to continue to walk. 

They were almost out of the alleyway when the man became limp and unresponsive, causing Chan to carry him the rest of the way. The town was still in an uproar, but the shouts sounded far enough for Chan to know that they wouldn’t be disturbed. So Chan took off his necklace and raced towards his home; He didn’t need the protection anyways. He had wasted too much time and he didn’t truly know the extent of this man’s injuries. He just hoped to get him treated and cleaned before he would have to use his deeply entrenched charms and chalks to heal him.

**——**

With tired arms and an even deeper ache in his chest, Chan finally reached his home. His home must have sensed his anguish because the front door suddenly flung open. When Chan walked inside, the atmosphere of the home suddenly changed from one of eerie silence to one of frantic concern. If Chan was playing enough attention to the aura of the house, he would know that there was a small hint of curiosity following him as he took the unconscious man to the bathroom. 

After Chan had placed the man on the floor, he quickly went to grab the medical kit that was under the bathroom cabinet, his worry and anxiety growing more due to the man still being unresponsive. 

As he faced the man again, Chan groaned quietly. He realized that if he wanted to treat the man’s wounds, he would have to take off his blood soaked shirt. But he didn’t want the man to suddenly wake up and think that he was being attacked or worse...so Chan decided to try to wake him up. 

“Hey...hey wake up please…” Chan said as he shook the man’s shoulder, eyes trained on his face to see if he was a little bit responsive. The smallest groan escaped the man’s mouth and Chan sighed deeply, a bit of his worry going out with that exhale. 

“Hi, sorry, but I need you to take off your shirt so I can see how bad this gash is.” The man side eyed Chan and while he understood the man’s hesitation, he didn’t need him in this sweat AND blood stained shirt any longer. Plus, the longer he waited to treat his wounds, the higher the chance of infection would be and Chan can only do so much without using his more heavier charms. The man gave him the same hesitant and accusatory look that he did when they met in the alley but Chan hopes that his own face showed that he was only trying to help.

It must have worked because the man looked away after a few minutes of staring and sighed, a groan escaping his lips as he forced himself to sit up, and an even louder pained moan came after he slipped the shirt off, seeing that it stuck to some of his wounds. 

From there, the cleaning and bandaging of the wounds and small cuts went pretty quickly, except for the gash. Although it wasn’t infected, the wound was deep enough for Chan to need to stitch him up. 

So, after providing the man with a towel and even offering him his own hand as something he would squeeze during (which he declined...sadly), Chan started prepping and sanitizing the needle. The many times that he had to treat himself after a certain town's people decided that he was the reason for some random occurrence has made him pretty good at stitching himself back together. And sometimes the dead mortals have interesting requests to be reanimated. All of this was to say that Chan knew what he was doing and after making sure that the man was biting the towel and _slightly_ touching his fingers in an attempt to comfort him, he started cleaning up the blood around the gash. The man hissed loudly and the lights flickered, telling Chan that the home was feeling the man’s anguish and that he would have to appease them after he was done.

Once he was cleaned up and stitched up, Chan could see how tired the man was; his eyes were lidded but he was keeping a close eye on Chan, still weary about what his true intentions with him were. Chan would laugh if he wasn’t feeling the effects of the day as well and wanted to get out of the way too bright bathroom that smells of blood, sweat, and maybe some lavender lingering from the bath he took earlier.

“Hey...I would recommend you taking a shower or even a little sponge bath before heading off to bed but if you’re too tired, I can lead you to the bedrooms.” Chan starts to ramble on but stops immediately when he sees the small smile forming on the man’s face. 

“Okay okay sorry about the rambling, but really it’s up to you. I can give you some clothes, since your shirt and pants aren’t worth saving for unfortunately and you can either wash up in the morning or now.” The man puts up two fingers after thinking about it for a while and Chan smiled a bit before getting up and heading to the bathroom door.

“I’m going to go get you some clothes, I’ll be back in just a bit, do not worry.” Chan said after seeing the man’s eyes widen a bit and slight fear enter into them. “When I come back, I’ll be waiting for you outside the bathroom so that you can change in peace. Unless you need some assistance and in that case I will gladly help you, ok?” When the man finally nodded, Chan let himself out of the bathroom and exhaled deeply. 

The events from today were finally catching up to him and a yawn came out of him before he even registered it. He knew that if he was feeling the exhaustion from today’s events, the man was feeling much worse. So, he hurried upstairs to his bedroom, searching his closet and dresser for some clothes that could possibly fit the man. 

An old band tee and some sweats that haven’t seen the light of day since Chan’s first encounter with necromancy were the only clothes that he felt like would fit. He makes a mental note, as he walks back downstairs, to go into town to get more diverse clothing for him, his guest, and whoever else might pop up and stay.

He heard the water shut off in the bathroom as he walked closer to the door and decided to wait a bit more before knocking. The door opened after the third knock and Chan was hit with the smells of mint and honey and he smiled. He hadn’t used those soaps and shampoo in a while so smelling it again gave him a small sense of nostalgia. He stuck his hand that was holding the clothes through the opening in the door and laughed lightly when the man eyed the band tee and side eyed him in the process.

“Hey, you get what you get and you don’t side eye the person giving you close, ok? Unless you want to put back on your clothes from earlier.” Chan smirked after the clothes were snatched from his hand and the bathroom door was closed quickly. 

He stretched his arms, making a small noise as his bones popped and realigned, and decided to tinker with the charm from earlier while he waits. The bathroom door light shut off and the man slowly came out, hands messing with the bottom of the band tee. 

Chan smiled and placed the finish charm in a small black box, he will send it in the morning. “The bedrooms are upstairs, come on” The man nodded and followed Chan up the stairs, eyes widened and mouth agape as Chan showed him the bedroom plus bathroom combo. “My room is just down the hall, so if you ever need me, I will usually be in there during the night or in my work space, which I will show you tomorrow if you want a tour.” 

“You’re rambling again…” the man mumbled and sent Chan a small smile. “Thank you...for rescuing me and thank you for housing me” Chan nodded, still shocked that the man was talking to him, cringing lightly at hearing the hoarseness of his voice, making a mental note to get him some water and pain “medication” in a bit.

“Before you sleep, I’m going to get some pain medication and some water for you. Just give me a second” The man just waves him off and Chan grumbles about him being _so comfortable so quickly_ before going to get some willows bark and a glass of water.

When he returned, he saw that the man had climbed into bed, not responding when Chan cleared his throat. He walked to the nightstand and placed the items on the desk, writing a little note of instructions near them. He got a glance at the man’s resting face and smiled at how peaceful he looked, making an effort to close the curtains a bit so that he wasn’t blinded by the morning light. 

_Goodnight_


	2. Dissonance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The most “important” notes are at the towards the end! <3 Thank you for reading!!

(tw: blood mention, food mention)

Chan awoke in a cold sweat, his eyes frantically searching his room as he tries to replace the nightmarish images with ones that he’s familiar with. He sighed and sat up, rubbing his hands down his face as he turned towards his window. The sun was only barely rising up, leaving the moon still high in the sky and mixing the colors of blue and red in with one another. Chan walked over to his window and opened it, shivering a bit due to the air still having a ting of coldness to it from the night before. He rested his arms against the windowsill and smiled lightly as the house creaked and groaned, aware of his sudden wide-awakeness. 

He pats the windowsill “Good morning to you too” A deeper groan caused Chan to laugh lightly, knowing that the house wasn’t much of a morning entity, but known for waking up slowly. 

A noise coming from his room door caused Chan to turn around and spotted the man, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. “And good morning to you as well, didn’t expect you to be up so early.” The man groaned and walked towards Chan, copying the same pose that Chan had against the windowsill and closed his eyes. 

“The spirits in your home are noisier than the ones I’ve encountered. They kept fixing up things in the room and made sure the water stayed cold while I was asleep.” Chan laughed, his eyes crinkling a bit, and patted the windowsill again. “Yeah, sorry about that...they haven’t had a guest in a while, plus you were wounded so they have a bit of a caring instinct for the injuried.” The home made a noise that seemed like they were embarrassed and Chan patted the walls, shushing them. The man laughed and traced the windowsill’s lining. “Well, thank you home, the water was delish and the willows bark wasn’t too difficult to take; it eased the pain right away.” The man opened his eyes and watched the sun rise higher into the sky, the sunlight making his brown eyes a golden brown.

“My name is Minho, but you can call me Lino, don’t think we got the chance to introduce ourselves yesterday.” He looked over and saw Chan had an embarrassed look on his face, so Minho laughed a bit and nudged him. “Don’t worry about it too much, I don’t think that an introduction would’ve been necessary considering what we were dealing with. But we have the whole day today to learn about each other, so why don’t we get started?”

**——**

Chan learned a couple of things about Minho while thinking about what to make for breakfast: Minho was a vampire, a pretty new one to be exact, he is pretty quiet around those that he thinks might take advantage of him “something about his childhood” he said without going into much detail, and he still can’t stand the whole “blood bags and drinking from people’s neck” trope that mortals believed all vampires did, so he gets his nutrients from food or from some special red wine.

“You don’t have to worry about your red wine, I can get you some that will last you for a while” Chan said, leaning against the kitchen counter, already thinking of a way for Death to repay him. “That is, if you’ll be staying here for a while, you don’t have to if you don’t want to though!” Chan added, getting flustered at the prospect of Minho thinking that he was forced to stay here, in this home, with a person he barely knows. But Minho just laughed and started searching through the fridge to see what they could make for breakfast.

Chan had already told him that he could make himself at home, but he still felt weird at being able to open up a stranger’s fridge and make his own breakfast without the strange looks or disgusted faces that he got when he was newly turned and had to hide that from his family. But, after glancing at Chan, he was still a bit flustered, pinching his ears slightly to make the redness go away.

“For someone who risked their life saving someone, stitched them up, gave them a place to stay and gave them some of their _own clothes_ to wear, and is now going to help them make a breakfast that fits their needs, you really don’t seem like the person who would stumble over his words this much.” Chan just laughed, rubbing the back of his neck, not saying anything to Minho’s comment. Minho, carrying some of the ingredients from the kitchen, laughed as well and placed them on the counter next to Chan.

“I don’t mean it in a mean way, I’m just used to those who give of themselves this much to want something in return, because they always do. But, you’re so _different_ and you gave up so much without wanting anything. Like right now,even after everything, without saying that I need to repay you for the stitches or for the clothing or _anything,_ you are willing to share more with me or to let me leave if I wanted.” Chan’s mouth was agape, his cheeks turning pink at Minho’s acknowledgement of all that he has done and his willingness to give all of his time, money, resources; anything for complete strangers. 

“Lino...I don’t need anything from you because you don’t _need to repay_ me. I helped you because the mortal world is cruel to those who aren’t their kind. They have their own set in stone beliefs and as someone who practices necromancy, I understand how violent those beliefs can become, believe me” Minho hummed, chopping up the ingredients for blood curd soup and gesturing for Chan to continue. 

“I didn’t want you to suffer like I did, given a false hope that people are accepting of anything and everything. Even with those who were, they didn’t help me when..” Chan shook his head, seeing that Minho was almost done with cutting up all of the ingredients and decided to grab one of the big pots from the bottom cabinets. He could feel the aura of the house shifting into one of anger and grief, so before that happens he should switch the conversation quickly. 

“You don’t have to go into details because I went through the same thing. I thought that my family would miss me and welcome me back with open arms, since after over a year of getting weird looks for only wanting raw meats or meals that included blood in them, I ran away from home. Plus Death came to me in my lowest times and helped me see that my family would welcome me, even in my new state, and shower me in love like they used to. So, I decided to return and...well you see how that ended..” Chan nodded slightly, helping Minho put the ingredients into the big pot, and turned the fire down low. 

The soup needed to cook for a while and while Chan was confused as to why Minho would choose something that needed a bit of time to cook, he didn’t think his suggestion of just having eggs and pancakes would satisfy him. 

**——**

While the soup cooked, Chan decided to show Minho around his home, telling him that a tour of the place would help him to feel more at home or, at the very least, somewhere he would be welcomed. Next to the kitchen, there was a big living room space, a sunken couch pit in the middle of the room and a tv in front of it. There were a variety of different plants aligning the walls, some Minho knew the name of and others that he would have to look up on his own. Chan started to ramble about how he knew it wasn’t much, which Minho practically gawked at him for saying, and said that he would get more things if Minho needed them to feel more comfortable. Minho waved him off and continued to look at the plants, thinking that some of them needed to be watered and replanted before walking towards Chan to finish the rest of the tour.

Out of the kitchen, there is one door on the left and two doors straight ahead: the door on the left being Chan’s study, filled with bookcases that had books on the dead, on the anatomy of humans and animals, and a multitude on the toxic properties of different plants. A small desk with an assortment of pretty jewels, gems, and necklaces caught Minho’s eye and he thought to ask Chan about it after the tour, since the amount of jewelry seemed to have a pretty intense backstory to them. The room was small and had the aura of determination and a ting of gratitude came through it, another thing he would have to ask about towards the end.

The two doors were another study room, not as personalized as the workspace but still had the necessary things in it for Chan to get the job done, and the bathroom. Minho realized that this was the exact bathroom that Chan patched him up in and the sense of nausea that came over him was enough for them to exit the bathroom quickly and head up the spiral staircase towards the bedrooms.

They both knew what the bedrooms looked like, but Minho didn’t get a good look at “his room’s” bathroom. He was quickly stunned by the size of it, with a whirlpool bathtub on the right side of the space and a shower on the left. He heard Chan chuckle beside him and remembered to close his mouth and glare at him. That shut him up a bit but he still had a small smile on his lips so Minho just rolled his eyes and walked further into the bathroom. The huge mirror and dual sinks had Minho’s head spinning and he gripped the marble counter and hung his head low, feeling his eyes burn with fresh tears threatening to spill over.

“Lino…?” He felt Chan come up and stand beside him, not too close but just close enough that Minho could feel his warmth radiating off of him. “This is a bit much don’t you think? You could’ve just given me the couch downstairs and made me eat whatever breakfast food that you wanted. But you…” Minho choked back a sob and gripped the counter tighter. He didn’t want Chan to see him cry over something as simple as him being hospitable, but he couldn’t help it. The bathroom was filled with the aura of love and care and Minho couldn’t take all of these feelings at once; all the feelings that he wished he felt when he went to see his family the other day.

“Hey…” Chan started, reaching his hand out to pet Minho on his head but going against it since he still didn’t know what his boundaries were. He sighed a bit and jumped on the counter, leaning his head against the mirror. “Would that be better for you? I didn’t think that this would be too much, since I just wanted you to be comfortable while you were healing.” Chan heard Minho let out a wet laugh and frowned even more.

“Goodness...you couldn’t be mean if you really wanted to huh? It’s ok, I’m just not used to being shown this much hospitality in rapid succession.” Minho wiped at his eyes, already feeling the burn of tears that haven’t fallen yet. He slowly got up on the counter as well, sitting on the opposite side of the sink from Chan. “Being a mythical creature in a town where we are seen as literal hellspawns doesn’t give me that luxury anymore. It’s making me really despise Death for making me think that this world would accept me for a change that I didn’t even choose.’ He laughed a little bitterly, copying Chan’s pose and closing his eyes. 

When he didn’t hear Chan respond, Minho raised an eyebrow and cracked one of his eyes to look in Chan’s direction. He was biting his lip, seemingly flustered and a little shocked at what Minho had said. He almost seemed like he had zoned out after Minho said that thing about Death and it sent him spiraling so hard that he failed to give a response in time. Minho stopped leaning against the mirror and narrowed his eyes at Chan, curious about how his statement got him to be so stiff and rigid. Another thing he would have to ask about whenever he got the chance. So he decided to wave his hand in front of Chan’s face, bringing him out of his racing mind.

“We should go back downstairs, the soup should be ready by now.” Chan said after a few moments of silence, still a bit stiff as he jumped off the counter and held a hand out for Minho to come off the counter without disrupting his stitching too much. There was a weird aura between the two of them now and it made Minho shiver a bit and to wrap his arms around himself. He felt this aura before, once with his family when he told him that he was a vampire. The aura of unease. 

After reaching the kitchen, he rushed over to the pot, taking the lid off of it and smiling softly as the smell came rushing into his nostrils. He stirred the soup a bit, seeing if every ingredient was cooked thoroughly and turned off the fire. When he turned around to ask Chan where the bowls were, he saw the table was already set and Chan was sitting at the table, in the chair closest to the living room space. Chan had even set up a trivet so that the pot could rest on the kitchen table. Minho smiles and puts on the black oven mitts to move the pot onto the kitchen table, making sure to bring a ladle. “Are you sure you’re ok with eating this?” Minho said after sitting down in the chair facing Chan. He met Chan’s eyes and Chan gave him a gentle smile and nodded as he began to pour the soup into the bowls, first into Minho’s then into his own.

“As long as there’s no poisonous or toxic plants in it, then I will eat whatever you make and want. I am not that picky.” And without another word, they began to eat.

**——**

Once breakfast was finished, both Chan and Minho leaned back in their chairs, enjoying the slight food coma and birds chirping in the distance. With a sigh and a stretch, Chan got up to go and do the dishes, wanting to get them over with so that there wouldn’t be a bigger mess after lunch. But a sudden hand on his wrist caused him to whip his head around to see Minho smiling at him. “Don’t worry about the dishes, I made the mess in the kitchen so I should at least clean it up.” Chan shook his head and patted the hand that was grabbing on his wrist. 

“You cooked Lino, you don’t need to clean as well. Plus what kind of host would I be if I made my guest do all the cooking and cleaning without at least helping out?” He laughed when he saw Minho giving him a confused look and took that as an opportunity to take his arm out of his grasp and head towards the sink with the pot. 

“I guess this would be good, since I have so many questions about the little tour that we took.” Chan hummed as he filled a tupperware with the rest of the soup and filled the now empty pot with hot soapy water and set it aside to soak for a bit. “I had a feeling you did, your eyebrows would furrow a bit and you would stare off into space for awhile.” Minho stopped washing one of the utensils and looked at Chan before shaking his head. “You must have consulted the spirits to have known that. I didn’t even know I did that myself.” Chan smirked and shrugged, rinsing off the utensils as Minho passed them to him and left them on the drying rack.

“No, although they’re pretty observant, they only tell me information that will be for my protection and the protection of the house. I don’t think you staring off into space is something that will be detrimental to me or the home.” Chan raised his hands up in surrender when he noticed Minho giving him a hard side eye and laughed. “That side eye however…” That made Minho break into a soft smile and motioned over to the pot so that Chan could hand it to him. 

“What were some of the questions you had for me though? I’ll tell you anything that you want to hear and the house will definitely make some sort of aura change if I’m hiding something. Can’t trust them with secrets at all.” Minho raised an eyebrow and put the pot down into the sink. “They can read your thoughts?” Chan quickly shook his head no and started to rinse the pot off. “They can read my outer appearance down to the slight shake in my hand. And with them being the only ones that I had to talk to, we would exchange little secrets with one another to feel more at peace within our situations so they pretty much know everything I do.”

Minho smiled a bit and started rinsing the soapy bits off of the sink. “Where did you get all of your jewelry from, the desk in your workspace was practically covered with them.” Chan hopped onto the counter and leaned his head against the cabinets. “They’re from my clients, when I first started practicing necromancy and helping these seemingly “angry” souls get better, they would give me the jewelry that their loved one used to wear a lot. Which gave me the idea of making actual charms and gifting them to the family to help keep the relationship between the living and the dead as connected as possible.”

Minho nodded and leaned against the counter, resting his head against his hand. “Have you ever had a client who just wanted them gone? Didn’t want anything to do with them?” 

“Of course I have...and all I can do is two things: one is to bring the soul here, into an environment that knows nothing about them so that they can start over and feel free to express whatever happened whenever they’re ready. Or I set them free from that home or person and they go on to wherever they want to go. Usually I do the first one and after a while they will allow me to make them into a charm so that they could help another soul in a different family that’s going to the same thing.”

Chan looked over at Minho and saw he had a lazy smile on his face. 

“What?” 

“You really do have a soft spot for the dead, even if people make them out to be these mean and vengeful spirits, you always find a way to appease them and make their supernatural life a bit better than their mortal one.” Chan chuckled a bit and shrugged. “Yeah I guess I do. Any other questions?” Minho thought for a bit, making a little humming noise as he rolled his wrist around, it suddenly getting an ache from him leaning on it.

“Is it weird that I can feel the aura of the house changing? Or that certain rooms have a very distinct aura and can’t be disturbed? I don’t know if I’m making much sense…” 

“You’re making a ton of sense, Lino. That’s just the spirits making themselves known in the home, which they only do when they feel as though they can trust the person or people in the home. Each room has a different group of spirits because I guess certain rooms in this house are more appealing than others.” Chan said with a shrug. “At any rate, like in my workspace, the spirits in there know that there’s going to be some hard work and difficult experiments going on to make sure that the charms are as perfect as they can be when dealing with dead spirits. So they make sure to give off an aura that makes me focus.”

“And the aura of gratitude?”

“You felt that one too? I don’t really know why they expressed that one, maybe it was because I was showing you around the home? You might want to ask them about that one.”

Minho bombinated. “Maybe after you answer this last question for me”

“Go right ahead”

There was a slight pause before Minho whispered:

“What the hell happened to you in the bathroom?’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes are still weird lol I feel like I’m talking to myself for right now. Currently I am working on Chapter 3 but writer’s block and life really are getting in the way. I am hoping for that to be out by this week, maybe even next Sunday. Who knows. 
> 
> Anyways, please leave comments! I hope you are having a good day/afternoon/night. You are loved and appreciated, you are doing your best, and I hope you had something good happen to you today, even if it was something small.


	3. Tensility

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was...one of the hardest chapters to write. Don’t ask me why, I was just having such a hard time finishing this one up. I had already finished chapters 1 and 2 by the time I started chapter 3 but I’m finally getting the chance to upload it. Anyways here it is!

(tw: Death mention (name) blood mention, food mention)

Fear is something Chan hasn’t felt in a while. When the two things that the mortal world fears: death and dying are the two things Chan has befriended, there isn’t really anything to fear anymore. Death doesn’t reject anyone, the dead welcomes anyone who respects and honors them, and both of them love being acknowledged and not treated as “bad signs”.

But this? With Minho looking at him with a confused yet seemingly scared expression on his face, like whatever answer Chan gives was going to throw the whole house into chaos. This was truly fear for Chan.

“What do you mean? The only thing that I remember happening in the bathroom is our discussion about hospitality and—“

“Yes, but it was after I said that I despised Death for leading me on with their false hope. You didn’t say anything afterwards and stared off into space for a while. I even had to wave a hand in front of your face to break your zoned out state.”

Chan furrowed his eyebrows and tried to remember him ever doing that, but he came up empty and a little frustrated. He tried to keep all his emotions and opinions about Death to himself, knowing that whatever “relationship” they have with one another shouldn’t dictate how other people should talk about them. But hearing Minho talking about despising Death,  _ hating  _ them, just sent him gyr-ing. 

“We should probably head towards the living room then…” Minho stared at Chan as he got off the counter and headed to the living room, his hands suddenly shaking. Minho didn’t like how this was going, partly because he was afraid that he had upset Chan and now he was finally telling him that he needed to leave. Which didn’t make much sense due to it being so out of character for Chan, but it still lays in Minho’s subconscious as he finally settled on the opposite side of the sunken couch. He was grateful for the large expanse of space between them, it felt less suffocating than it would’ve if this was just a simple couch.

Chan couldn’t handle the outstretched silence anymore, but this was something that he needed to think about thoroughly and make sure that he was saying the right things. The house wasn’t helping either, giving him the same aura of unease and fear that it did yesterday, with Death. 

“Minho, do you remember what I said when we first met? When I found you near the trash cans?” Chan was wringing his fingers, trying to speak in a way where his voice didn’t waver as much. He felt as if he was overreacting, that Minho wasn’t going to respond in the way that he’s thinking. One where he would storm out of here and never return, telling Chan to stay away from him since he is Death’s accomplice. 

“You told me that you were a friend…” He saw the gears turning in Minho’s head, and while he was thankful that he didn’t have to say much to get him thinking, he still didn’t want Minho to come up to a false conclusion and to act on the first emotion he felt. “You know Death on a personal level, don’t you?” Chan saw Minho deflate a bit, sensing the aura go into the direction of immense fear and disappointment.

“Yes and no, please hear me out: I knew about Death before I got into necromancy, when I figured out that the dead and Death weren’t things to respect out of fright. But I never properly met them until afterwards, when word got around that I was giving the “restless” undead some...well, rest.” Chan laughed a bit, trying to lighten up the mood and ease his nerves, and looked up from staring at his hands to see how Minho was reacting, but Minho just nodded, giving him a blank look.

“...Anyways-“ Chan started off, clearing his throat a bit and rubbing the back of his neck. “Like I said before, I didn’t have a fear of Death, so when they decided to pay me a visit, they were surprised by how calm and collected I was. They were used to many trembling when they came to visit, begging for their lives to be spared. I guess they decided to try and “figure me out”, sticking around while I made charms and ask questions about my clients after I got home. This has been going on for quite sometime but please let me assure you that I didn’t know about what they were doing with you. I wasn’t informed of it until after it had happened.”

Minho feels himself zoning out, his brain turning and working overtime to understand what Chan was saying. He wanted to believe that he didn’t know, that he was just as blind to how devious Death was as he, himself, was, but there was that one  _ tiny _ but loud part of him that was telling him to run. To run and go back to living out in the forest, which this part of him was deeming safer than here, where the entity that almost got him  _ killed  _ was welcomed. 

“I don’t feel safe staying in a place where Death can just freely waltz in and out.” Minho whispered, placing his feet up on the couch and wrapping his arms around his legs, resting his chin on his knees. He started planning what to do if Chan wasn’t able to keep Death away: He would go find his clothes...which were probably thrown away because of the amount of blood and disgusting them, so he would have to run out with the shorts and shirt Chan gave him. He got a tour of the home so he knew that the front door was where the workspace was and that door is always open unless Chan is in there working and—

This would be the fourth time that Chan has called for Minho’s attention, alternating between his nickname and his actual name and neither one of them were working. He could already tell through the home that he was planning on escaping, since the overwhelming aura of sadness and grief had settled upon them when he first zoned out. Chan didn’t want to scare him by yelling out his name nor by getting up abruptly so he decided that he would ask the home to do something, anything, to get Minho out of his head and give Chan a little more time to explain himself before he got a chance to execute his plan.

All Minho heard was a loud bang, causing him to jump and look behind him to see a window had suddenly opened. He turned back around and after looking at Chan’s face and seeing a saddened but determined look on his face, he started counting down from ten; ten seconds before he got up and ran, ten seconds to get away, to be safe. He got down to 3 before he realized that Chan’s determined look now morphed to one of complete and utter defeat and his countdown suddenly stopped.

“You can leave if you want, Minho. I told you from the beginning that you aren’t forced to stay here and now, seeing that you are uncomfortable with my relationship with Death, you don’t need to continue to be in a place you have deemed unsafe. However, all I want to say is that although I can’t completely keep Death away from this home, I can promise you that they will not harm you anymore and can even have them apologize for how badly they wronged you.” Chan finally said after seeing if Minho was actually listening, sighing a bit afterwards and running his hands down his face. Although he doesn’t want Minho to leave, he also wants anyone who comes here to be comfortable and clearly he’s not.

_ And that’s ok, I was already alone before saving Minho, even with Death popping in and out of the home at random times.  _ Chan thought to himself. The silence in the house will be the same one before, one that he has dealt with a bunch of times and should be used to. It may feel a bit heavier though, seeing that he and the home were already used to Minho’s presence. But they will get used to it, they have to.

After a couple more minutes of silence, Minho sighed and stands up. “I think I’m going to leave, maybe for a couple of days, maybe for longer. But, if you were serious about keeping Death away from me, from hurting me, I may return. You don’t need to make them apologize to me since I know that they won’t mean it. I don’t feel too comfortable staying here after everything you told me.” His hands were shaking, memories of his last night at his familial home racing through his mind. He hated how vulnerable he felt right now, even when he was just expressing his emotions to someone who seemed to care about his well being. It felt the same as the night he told his family about his sudden change; the judgement, the unease, the overwhelming bubbling of anger and resentment he felt from within them. 

“That’s fine, please take as much time as you need. The rest of the soup that we had for breakfast is in the fridge for you to take with you. And do not worry about the clothes, if you think that you need more, there should be some in your- I mean- the spare bedroom.” 

Minho nodded, walking over to the refrigerator and grabbed the tupperware, physically resisting the urge to sense what aura was in the home now. He knew it wasn’t going to be a pleasant one and really didn’t want to continue to think about the fact that deep within him, he wanted to stay. But he couldn’t, his initial feelings of discomfort outweigh that want and he knew he needs to trust his first gut instinct. He didn’t need to gather anymore clothes, not wanting to have too many traces of this home with him while he’s gone. Didn’t want to have his judgements sway in the direction of coming back too soon. So he headed towards Chan’s workspace, seeing him standing near the opened front door.

“Thank you for everything” Minho said when he got closer, his grip on the tupperware tightening a bit, his gaze dropping to his feet. He heard Chan chuckle a bit and felt his hand pat him on his head lightly. “You don’t need to thank me, it’s the least I can do to clean up Death’s mess. You take care ok? You are always welcome here whenever you want to visit.” Minho nodded and smiled a little, walking out of the front door before turning around and waving. He turns around and walks into the forest, into the familiar yet daunting forest.

**——**

It has been a couple of weeks since Minho has left, a couple of weeks since Death last visited, and Chan is feeling the effects of this prolonged solitude. The aura of the home hasn’t changed from disappointment and powerlessness and it was messing with Chan’s productivity. He limited the amount of clients he was currently taking on, since a heavy heart and unfocused mind wasn’t good for helping the undead. So, to preoccupy himself and the spirits, he’s doing some cleaning. It’s towards the end of springtime and during the summer, the spirits activity isn’t as active as during fall and winter, so Chan took this as the time to reorganize his workspace.

The amount of books and charms that he collected over the years were starting to make piles on every surface of the room, making it harder to avoid the aura of stress when Chan walks into the room. 

The windows were open while Chan worked, making piles of books from the ones that he read, the ones that he hadn’t had a chance to read and wanted to, and then the ones that he read and DIDN’T want to read again. The sunlight coming through the window allowed Chan to see the amount of dust particles in the air, making a mental note to clean this room more often. Chan didn’t realize how many books he didn’t get the chance to read, sticking to the ones that he used when he first started learning necromancy. 

After cleaning off the bookshelves and sneezing a couple of times- _ he really needed to clean this room more often _ \- he started placing the unread books on the top shelf, hoping that this would give him more of a reason to study from them and learn more. As he was skimming through the pages of one of the newer books, already seeing some things that he needed to write down, he suddenly felt a presence in the room. He rolled his eyes and closed the book rather quickly, turning to face Death as they waved at him. 

“You really aren’t welcomed here right now, you know..” Chan said as he turned back around and continued to place the books on the shelf, already getting quite annoyed with Death’s presence. 

“Chan please, I need your help again-“

“No!” Chan screamed, hands shaking and eyes tightly shut. He didn’t want to go through what he did with Minho again, he couldn’t take another person coming into his life so suddenly and leaving the same way. He and the house wouldn’t be able to handle that again. “You keep causing problems for people who don’t want any trouble, who just want to have a normal life-”

“Which is what I’m trying to give-”

“No, you’re butting into people’s lives thinking that you are helping them and then realizing that putting them at the mercy of the mortal world isn’t very helpful after all! And then you come to me and expect me to fix everything without you having to take the blame…” Chan was trying his hardest not to let his voice waver, to take deep breaths to ensure that he would stay as calm as possible. 

“I do come to you to fix my mistakes, and for that I apologize, but I cannot stop what I’ve already started. And now I can’t go and fix them without making them worse, you know this, Chan.”

He does, Chan knows exactly what that would mean if Death suddenly showed up after putting hope into another person’s head just for it to be snatched away from them. But that didn’t make this whole situation sting, knowing that Death was just using him and wasn’t there to give him praise and to properly apologize. So, he sighs, moving past Death so that he could gather up his charms once again.

“If this is all that you are going to be using me for, to be your little cleanup crew, then know that you aren’t welcome to set foot in this home unless it’s because of your mistakes”

Seeing Death shrug to what he said set a blaze in Chan’s stomach, making him really regret ever thinking that this “relationship” that they had was more than this: a simple internship that he didn’t remember applying to. He really wished he didn’t allow Death to come and praise him highly all those years ago, maybe he wouldn’t feel the strange eager to please them even when he knew they were wrong.

“Fine, where are they now?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soo, I really don’t know what to put here, I think I’ll keep writing cute motivational things though. Maybe adding little updates about the upcoming chapters ?? who knows hehe
> 
> I hope you have or had a good day,afternoon/ or night! I hope you did something fun or productive today. Or maybe even something relaxing !! Keep drinking water and i hope you had something to eat, even if it was small! <3


	4. Consternation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello hello everyone! I was going to upload these two chapters on Sunday but after I finished chapter 5, I decided to up the upload date, which gives me a couple more days to get started on the next two chapters. So consider this an early gift!

(tw: graphic descriptions of surroundings, description of blood, descriptions of the body)

Chan hated this, the constant exposure to the village is messing with his nerves and he finds himself curling in on himself when he ventures there. But this side of town was new to him, making his nerves send painful sparks of fear whenever he heard a scream or saw eyes staring back at him in the dark and grotesque alleyways. Coming here at night wasn’t something that Chan really wanted to do but, for some reason, Death’s mishaps always happen when the sun goes down.

All Death had to say that the next “child” of his was on the north side of town, where the rich and filthy and the poor and desperate were forced to coexist. Where the rich forced the poor into unspeakable acts just for their pleasure and for “payment” Chan shivered as he heard a bloodcurdling scream coming from another dark alleyway and the angry shouts of men thereafter. The smell of rotten food, wastes, and other bodily fluids were making his stomach churn and the subconscious response to vomit and plug his nose was creeping up on him. But he knew he needed to keep going. 

Although he hated being Death’s clean up crew and hated how easily he’s able to submit to their beckon call, he knew it was because he truly wanted those hurt by Death’s “helping hand” to actually have a good life. He wants them to have a sense of peace in their fear ridden lives. It made him think of Minho and a pang of worry came through him, having him wonder about how he was doing. Chan just hoped that he was doing alright, hoped that he was content and was able to breathe a little easier without having to worry about having to hide how he truly felt.

Regaining his focus on the task at hand, Chan realized that his subconscious steps lead him to the back of an old rundown building. A poorly managed sign said “Auction” with it’s letters dangling off their hinges, which Chan quickly walked under. He didn’t want to risk one of those letters coming crashing down and bringing sudden attention on him. 

Death told him to look out for a shapeshifter, one that turned into a hyena when provoked or forced to. Chan shuddered at the thought of being forced to be something he didn’t feel comfortable in anymore, just because others thought it was good for him. So he placed his hood on his head, making sure that half of his face was covered, and went closer to the auction stage.

There they were and Chan couldn’t help but gasp at the sight of them. Chains digging into their neck and wrists, fresh blood dripping down onto the chains and dried blood caked around the fur. A feverish look was held in their eyes as they whipped their head around, looking at the audience and giving a low growl whenever someone made a gesture towards them. They were so thin, their ribs and vertebrae showing through their skin. Chan wanted to rush up there and take them, running away from the mob of angry men, women, and others who believe that this poor person was theirs already. But he knew that would only end badly, seeing that he didn’t have the person’s trust to even execute a plan like that. He just wanted to help so badly, but all he could do was wait until the auctioning began. 

He locked eyes with the person more than once, hoping that during those brief moments, they saw that he was no threat and actually wanted to help them. It was a long shot, since he was a stranger, wearing a hood that covered half of his face, in a crowd of people who may do some unspeakable things to them. But Chan hoped that something about him translated something different to the shapeshifter.

They seem to stop and stare at him sometimes, tilting their head in a curious manner and slowly getting closer to the side of the stage Chan was on. They only stopped looking at him when someone pushed past and tried to touch them, making them go back to their original spot and snarling, snapping at their hands before someone behind the stage tugged on the chains.

The auction started after sometime, causing the crowd to get even more restless and tense. People started pushing their way closer to the stage, shouting out ridiculous numbers, some lower than the first bid, and others only adding a couple of dollars to it. Chan was sick to his stomach, swallowing the anger and bile that was rising to his throat after witnessing this. These people put a price on someone’s life, on someone’s freedom, and they were making that value much lower. They make it seem like it's a game, to get the best thing the cheapest, and then do their worst to it. Chan finally snapped after another person made a low ball bid, having the crowd howling and cackling because of it. 

“1.2B won”

The crowd went silent and Chan felt all of their eyes on him as he kept his bidding paddle raised, smiling at the shapeshifter slightly when they locked eyes. He heard grumbling all around him, seeing some of the once energetic and loud bidders looking at their lowered paddles with shame. 

Chan stopped looking around at the crowd when he heard the announcer telling him to step up on the stage to “claim his prize” a phrase that struck a nerve with him. He made sure to glare at the announcer a bit before turning his focus on the shapeshifter, kneeling down a bit so that he was at eye level with them. They were so pretty up close, even with all of the scars and matted fur. They averted their eyes from Chan’s, visibly shaking at the closeness. Not wanting to make them more tense, he took a step back and stood up. 

He needed to go give the money to the announcer and tell them that they needed to take the chains off of them, seeing up close that they were worse than he thought. They dug into the shapeshifter’s skin, exposing it to the elements and caused infections. The announcer and those working behind the scenes rolled their eyes and snatched the money from Chan’s hands, calling him a “softie” and that he “wouldn’t last here for even a day.” Chan didn’t let it get to him though, content with the fact that he got the shapeshifter out of this horrible situation and is willing to help them further. 

The chains were cut horrifically, long pieces of it still attracted to their fur, all because they “couldn’t get too close to a dangerous creature.” Chan rolled his eyes and kneeled to the shapeshifter again, asking them if they would like to be carried or if they were able to walk to his home. It struck Chan a bit later that he was speaking to a hyena and not a human being so he wasn’t going to get a verbal response, but the shapeshifter just walked off the stage and towards the exit, looking back at Chan so that he could lead the way.

**——**

Chan ended up carrying them after a while, seeing that their breath became labored after they were far from the auction site. He hated how they still felt like they needed to be strong around all those people, not wanting their hungry eyes to see them in a weakened state. Chan was lost in thought, thinking about the tools that he would need to cut the chains off without hurting them too badly, how he would have to bandage and monitor their wounds, see what they were ok with eat-

“Chan?”

Chan froze and smiled a bit, patting the shapeshifter’s head when they started to growl.

“Hey Minho”

Chan saw Minho’s eyes dart back and forth, from him and the hyena in his arms before sighing and shaking his head, pointing in the direction of Chan’s home.

“Well let's hurry, we need to treat their wounds before they get any worse” Chan nodded as Minho led the rest of the way, a little out of it because of Minho’s presence. He wasn’t expecting him to show up, especially at a time like this. Minho must’ve known that this was Death’s doing and that Chan was once again being their little repair shop, taking their problems and fixing them up. But sadly this shop doesn’t get rightfully paid for the services, getting excited enough when their regular customer gives a little tip.

While Chan was busy making an illustration of his own problem, he soon found himself back into his home, back into the same bathroom where he had to patch up Minho. The shapeshifter was shaking harder in his arms, so Chan decided to place them on the floor and backed away, getting to the door’s opening before stopping and crouching down.

“Hey hey, it’s ok. We aren’t going to hurt you, we want to treat your wounds and nothing more.” The shapeshifter wasn’t looking at Chan anymore, their eyes were focused on Minho. Chan furrowed his brows while following the hyena’s line of sight and made a small hum of understanding.

Minho looked between Chan and the hyena, eyes widening a bit before nodding and closing the door. Chan leaned against the bathroom door and waited for the hyena to calm down a bit more. Once they did, Chan cracked the door open slowly, telling Minho to bring the bolt cutters. The chains were still on the wounded areas and they will only get in the way with the healing process. The bolt cutters made the shapeshifter back into the tub, growling as Chan tried to get closer. 

“I know it looks scary, but it’s only for the chains. After they come off, it will be put away and you won't see it anymore. Plus, if you are willing, you could come to me when you’re ready to get patched up. That way you won’t have the urge to growl and back away when I try to come closer.”

The hyena stared at Chan for a bit and slowly walked over to him, only getting close enough for Chan to treat their wounds and nothing more. Chan nodded and decided that the neck chain needed to go first so he started getting down to work. He had to pull the chain a little to get the bolt cutters through and hearing the hyena hiss and yap lightly made him want to stop and rub their back but he needed to get this over and done with.

After a couple of minutes of cutting and pulling, all of the chains were finally off and Chan got to look at how bad the wounds were. He grimaced; they were pretty bad but nothing that some hydrogen peroxide and some wrapping bandages couldn’t help heal for now. He pulled out the needed things and showed them to the hyena, who whipped their head back at him and growled.

“What? It’s not going to sting that bad. Well...It will because your wounds are pretty deep but would you rather have this or stitches?” Chan thinks that the shapeshifter rolled their eyes at him and chuckled before getting to work on disinfecting and wrapping the wounds. The hyena didn’t make too much of a scene, doing the same yapping and hissing that they did when Chan was taking off the chains. So Chan had quite an easy time making sure that the bandages were tight enough but not too tight for discomfort.

He then started treating the little scars and scabs that littered their body, slowly taking off the tag that was placed in their ear. Chan got a sudden urge to go back to the auction place and give everyone there a piece of his mind, to shut the whole thing down and have all of those disgusting people thrown into the same cages that they put shapeshifters in. He shook the thought from his head and put a little heart shaped bandage on their ear. He caught the shapeshifter side eyeing him and scratched under their chin a bit.

“I’m done now, I will have to check your wounds every couple of days just to make sure that they’re healing properly. But for now you need to rest. I have some bedrooms upstairs where you could sleep or you may sleep in the living room, it is really up to you…” The hyena just stared at him, so Chan thought it was best to get up and show them the places that he mentioned. He opened the door and motioned the hyena to come out of the bathroom, spotting Minho and smiling at him.

“How are they?”

“They did pretty well while I was cleaning their wounds and scars but I think that it’s time to get them to bed so that their body can heal. So I’m going to be showing them the bedrooms and the living room to see where they wanted to stay for the night.” 

Minho nodded and locked eyes with the hyena, smiling at them a bit. He could see the fear within their eyes, the same fear that he held on his own when he was first rescued. Minho kneeled down and held out his hand.

“Hi, I’m Lino and I can show you the bedrooms and the living room, I can even give you a bit of a wipe down to get the grime and dried blood off of you if you want.”

The hyena’s eyes flickered from Minho’s hand to his face before sniffing it and resting their chin on. Minho laughed because of it, even giving their chin a little scratch before standing back up slowly and tilting their head towards the living room.

“Minho are you sure this is ok? I can show them around, it’s not a problem-“

“It’s fine, Chan. You look exhausted and you’re in need of a shower. Don’t worry, we both will be ok since we’ll be staying here with you.” He continued to stare at Chan, even pushing him in the direction of the stairs before Chan finally complied and bid them goodnight.

**—-—**

Minho thought that it would be better to take the hyena to see the bedrooms, since Chan would be in the bathroom and Minho didn’t want to disturb him later on. He made sure to walk slow, knowing that going up stairs after having wounds treated is the worst kind of pain. MInho pointed out where Chan’s room was and then showed the bedroom where he stayed during his very short time here. His eyes lingered on the room a little more, his heart having some sort of a longing to just stay. He shook his head and looked down the hall, realizing that there were two more doors.

One of the doors opened up to another bedroom, one made for more than one person to live in. A fully furnished room that looked like it was used as a small storage room, books and musical instruments settled in the corners of the room. The hyena ventured into the room further, smelling and wandering around the bed and the dressers. Minho followed behind, his eyes looking at the many art pieces that hung on the walls. He hoped that Chan wouldn’t mind them looking around this room, since he didn’t show him it before.

He heard a creak on the other side of the room and snapped his head towards the hyena checking out something behind a closet door. Minho walked up towards them and opened the door even more and his jaw dropped. 

The “closet door” was for the bathroom and it was a beautiful sight: There wasn’t a shower in this bathroom because there wouldn’t be any room for it. The gigantic black whirlpool bath took up most of the space in the bathroom, leaving only a single sink counter and toilet. Everything shined and sparkled in the moonlight coming through the little circle window, littered with little succulents and potted plants. The black marble floors and walls shimmered and made the room seem a bit brighter, even without the lights on. The bathroom reminded Minho of a greenhouse with the amount of plants that were scattered in the bathroom. 

The hyena seemed mesmerized by the whole scene so Minho took it upon himself to designate this room and their own. He turned and walked towards the light switch for the room, instead of blinding the both of them with the bathroom’s light. 

“I think this room will be good for now, it’s later than I expected so I don’t want you to stay up any longer. We will finish the tour tomorrow morning, with Chan so he can explain the rooms. I don’t know them too well so I couldn’t give you much commentary. Now, are you ok with me wiping down your fur so that you can feel clean before heading to bed or would you rather wait until the morning?”

The shapeshifter looked towards the bathroom and Minho nodded before heading in there first. He turned on the lights and found a little closet filled with different sized towels and grabbed a small one and a body towel. He placed the towels on the edge of the bathtub and turned on the water, testing out the temperature before calling for the hyena. They stalked into the bathroom, stepping into the bathtub and sitting down, already relaxing due to the warm waters.

Minho made sure to not get the bandages wet, cleaning around the many scars and scabs that Chan had already cleaned up. The once cream looking towel turned gray after a while and while rinsing them off the water was a murky dark brown color. Minho’s heart yearned for the hyena, hating the fact that they had to go through all of this. 

He dried them off gently and told them to head to the bed while he cleaned up the bathroom. Once the tub and floors were rid of the dirt and blood and the towels were hung up to dry, Minho headed towards the bed. The hyena was already curled up in the middle of it so Minho decided that it was his time to leave. But when he turned off the light and started stepping out of the room, the hyena’s head shot up and they quickly got off the bed.

“No no, it’s ok. You were sleeping and looked so comfortable so I’m just letting you sleep-“

The hyena pulled at Minho’s pants, pulling him until he was closed to the bed before jumping up on it again. Minho smiled a little and climbed in, leaning his back against the headboard with the covers covering his lower half. The hyena watched him for a bit, before yawning and laid down close to Minho’s hips. The smile from earlier came back as Minho watched their body relax and heard the small snores coming from them. He didn’t think that they would want anyone to sleep near them but Minho thought about how lonely and cold it was for them in that auction building. It made sense, they were now in a home that didn’t hurt them but helped them and they probably didn’t want to stay in an unfamiliar place alone. Even if nothing bad has happened to them right now.

He fought with himself for a bit before he decided to rub the shapeshifter’s back, feeling their vertebrae through their fur. They tensed for a moment, opening one of their eyes before it landed on Minho and then it was closed again. The tense feeling went away after a couple more strokes, making Minho relax as well. He racked his brain for ideas of what he should make for breakfast for them, wishing that they didn’t feel like they were forced to stay in their shapeshifted form so that they could tell him what they would like. Wished that they didn’t have to think that their shapeshifted form was better than their human one. But long time trauma and manipulation will always have scars to bear, even after years away from those events and Minho knew that they were a long way away from getting them to see their human and shapeshifter forms in a balanced way.

The hyena’s ear twitched a bit and Minho realized that he was holding their fur pretty tightly. He let go, petting the area awkwardly before snuggling down into the covers. He faced the hyena, their little breaths hitting his face, and scratched their chin lightly. After hearing a small chirp from them, one that he wasn’t expecting, he decided that tomorrow would be day one of a pretty long road to recovery and Minho was willing to go through all of it for them.

Until then...

_Goodnight_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will have a more in-depth end note just addressing some things or maybe it will just be a ranting session. who knows!
> 
> Until then, take care!


	5. Unanimity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has not been read through AT ALL, one because I enjoyed writing it so much that I’m slightly afraid to read through it again and hating it so we are avoiding that rn. And two, I’m hoping that my autocorrect decided to do its job and that google docs didn’t just get tired while I was writing so it should be grammatically correct.
> 
> psa: hi hi, I was thinking about this chapter and realized that I did indicate that some sexual things happened to Bin while he was at the auction house, meaning that I should’ve also tagged in the tws Bestiality, which is what I will be doing now. It doesn’t go into detail but it is indicated. Sorry about that!

(tw: bestiality indication, anxiety mention, food mention, non con touching (nothing sexual))

Changbin woke up on his own, which was weird because it didn’t come with jumping out of his sleep and the feeling of cold metal chains around his neck and wrists. He woke up warm and comfortable and it felt so _wrong_ . He opened his eyes quickly and his hazy brain made his anxiety spike slightly, his eyes wandering around the barely lit bedroom. Changbin had to blink a couple more times and breathe deeply to finally remember what happened last night. _The auction, the bidder, the trip to their home, the bandaging of his body_... His body relaxed for a bit before going back to being tense, still not comfortable being in a foreign home without thinking about the things that they could do to him. Or could have done to him in his sleep…

Movement next to him made Changbin freeze up, and he focused his eyes on the body that lay next to him. His mind suddenly went blank and then filled immediately with the actions of running away, of fighting them before they did anything _else_ to him. But he couldn’t move a muscle and didn’t know he was shaking until the body moved again, this time turning around to face him. He was still in his hyena form so he had the upper hand in terms of agility but he still couldn’t _move_ , still couldn’t get away. The man opened his eyes and smiled a bit at Changbin, making the pit of his stomach drop a bit. The smile wasn’t something that he had ever seen before. Usually those smiles were accompanied with greed or hatred in the person’s eyes. But this man, he was looking at him with such warmth and care and it terrified him ever more. 

The man’s smile dropped and a quick look of concern came over his face before he sat up. He looked familiar to Changbin, his mind still muddy from the sleep that he had. But he couldn’t trust his mind too much nowadays, since it’s been used against him time and time again. So he was still here, shaking and staring at the man intently, ready to strike and run whenever the man seemed to try to harm him. It didn’t come though, the man just sat up, keeping a bit of distance between himself and Changbin, and placed his hands with his palms upward. Changbin narrowed his eyes at the gesture before remembering that this was the same movement that the man with the hood did before he patched up his wounds.

This man wasn’t that one though, no he had something abnormal with him. Something about him didn’t scream _human_ to Changbin, like he was so much more than that. It could also be the fact that the man had lilac eyes and Changbin would remember seeing these eyes if he was the person who rescued him. 

Changbin stopped for a second. Rescued? He wasn’t rescued; he was _bought_ , for a pretty hefty penny but still he was bought and taken to a home where he doesn’t know what will happen to him. He really wished that he could get out of his hyena form so that he could laugh at his naive brain, but he still wasn’t comfortable enough to do that in front of people.

The man smiled at him again and reached his hand towards Changbin’s chin but Changbin quickly reeled back, making more space between the two of them and snarled. This was too much for the first time he woke up peaceful and his body was already tired from being so tense all the time. 

**——**

Minho didn’t know what to do to wipe the bleary look in the hyena’s eyes or how to get them to stop snarling and backing away from him. He was getting a bit sad because of it, thinking that they formed some sort of bond with them after what happened last night. 

He decided that it would be better if Chan came in to help with this situation, that maybe seeing Chan’s face would help the hyena come back to reality. Minho got up slowly, the shapeshifter’s eyes following his every move before he was fully out of the room and out of their line of sight. He released a breath that he didn’t know he was holding, placing a hand over his heart. He never felt this fearful since the day Chan told him about his relationship with Death. He shook the feeling, giving himself a full body shake and taking deep breaths to calm his still erratic heart. He heard a snicker coming from in front of him and he looked up to see Chan leaning against his bedroom door post. 

It seemed as though he was just waking up, with his hair still styled from sleep and the lazy look in his eyes. Minho hoped that he wasn’t the one who woke him up, knowing how late it was last night and saw the look of exhaustion on Chan’s face. He knows how much Chan works; never really giving himself a break and constantly training his skills in necromancy. Even if that meant that he was burning the candle at both ends. 

So, Minho made it his goal, after Chan got the shapeshifter to calm down, to put Chan on a permanent rest day. It was something that Chan really needed but he didn’t give himself the chance to experience. And since Minho was here, for now at least, he was going to lighten Chan’s everyday burdens a bit.

“Good morning to you too, I need your help.”

When Chan gave him an eyebrow raise, maybe a bit confused about what Minho would want this early in the morning, Minho did the beckoning motion and pointed towards the room that the shapeshifter was in. After Chan stopped leaning on the door post and got closer, Minho told him what was going on:

“Last night we decided to end the tour quite early in one of the rooms and before I got the chance to leave, they wanted me to sleep next to them. Practically pulling me towards the bed from my pants leg. But this morning-“

“They don’t remember who you are, do they? And now they’re on the defensive?”

Minho nodded, very surprised how scarily accurate Chan was about this situation and almost asked about it. But Chan was already walking past him and towards the bedroom door.

“Give me a few minutes and I’ll call you in, ok?” 

Minho nodded again and after Chan gave him a small smile and walked into the bedroom slowly, he could feel a similar but smaller smile on his lips. He still felt a bit antsy from what happened this morning, so Minho thought it would be a good idea to distract himself with making breakfast. He didn’t know how long it would take for Chan to calm the shapeshifter down and he didn’t know what kind of food they would be able to eat. Hell, he doesn’t even know their name but Minho wanted to make them feel like he did when he woke up in Chan’s home for the first time:

Warm and Content

**——**

Changbin felt weird, if that’s the word that he would use for this feeling. He always felt a sense of dread and fear when he was in a room with a man, alone, with the door closed. He knew the only escape would be to jump from this room’s window and knew that he wouldn’t be able to survive a fall like that with the injuries that he has now. But he didn’t feel the need to flee or to attack. 

So he’s feeling weird, to repeat the sentiments from earlier, as the man who rescued him is sitting on the edge of the bed on the side closest to the door, staring at the paintings on the wall. Changbin stared at the man, very confused as to why he wasn’t trying to do anything to _him_ . Nothing sexual, nothing harmful, just _nothing_ and it was freaking him out more. He didn’t like not knowing what was going to happen with this man; his only way of surviving the auction place was failing him now and he was going to spiral hard. 

The man turned to look at him and smiled and suddenly Changbin’s mind went blank. He found himself getting closer towards the face and before he could stop himself, he licked the man’s cheek. Startled by both his action and the man’s widen eyes, Changbin moved back to being at the other side of the bed, berating himself for what had just happened. But that smile, it was filled with so much love and affection and it was directed towards _him_.

That type of smile hasn’t been directed towards him in a long time, probably a long enough time for him to forget the details of why he even received such a smile. His brain short circuited and he just wanted to show the man that he was thankful, even if he was still wary of him. He still felt stupid though for it, since he doesn’t know what could happen to him and if he’s allowed to leave this place. 

“Thank you for that, I think that was something like a kiss? Oh whatever it was, thank you. I hope you can forgive how long I was quiet, I didn’t know what to say to you to help you calm down. Lino said that you were pretty on edge with him being in the room.” The man started playing with his fingernails and Changbin could see him starting to bite the skin off of his lips, realizing that as a nervous habit. It was something that he saw often at the auction place, when people who weren’t usually supposed to be there decided to get their money dirty.

Changbin was confused as to why this man was nervous around him. He was at his most vulnerable state, with injuries that will withhold him from running at full speed out of here and a mind that doesn’t know whether to trust this man or to sleep with one eye open. He could do anything to him and yet he’s sitting here, trying to get on Changbin’s good side. He then thought back to what the man said and his eyes widened a bit. 

Lino was the guy that showed him the room, that washed his dirty fur and ran his fingers through it when he was going to sleep. Changbin sighed, making the man turn his head towards him again.

“I’m guessing you’re better now? It’s pretty hard to know if anything I'm saying to you is sticking. Which reminds me..” The man sat directly facing Changbin, his legs crossed on top of one another. He placed his hands on each side of Changbin’s face and made him stare into his eyes. Changbin was taken aback, almost snarling and wiggling his head out of the man’s hands before he started talking again:

“You don’t have to be in this form anymore. I don’t know much about your backstory besides what I saw last night, but I have a feeling that you haven’t been in your human form in a while. If you’re choosing not to change because of safety reasons, I can assure you that you are safe here. You don’t need to take my word for it either, this home will show you that when you need protecting. But if it’s for other reasons, that is fine as well. Whenever you are ready, you can.”

Changbin felt cold after the man let go of his face. He was stuck replaying the message over and over and still couldn’t wrap his head around it. It was his _choice_. He didn’t have to because others wanted him to or because it was his “better looking” form. He could come out of this form whenever he wanted and go into it whenever he wanted. Changbin felt something warm bubble up into his chest and he managed to lick the man’s hand before it fully moved back to his side. He got to see the smile from earlier again and the warm bubbling feeling felt less intense than the first time. He was starting to like how this feeling made him feel. It took away the cold feeling that he always felt in his chest, a feeling he didn’t think he could’ve gotten rid of so easily. 

Changbin’s nose picked up the scent of delicious food coming from beyond the door and his ears perked up a bit.

“Oh, I didn’t know Lino was making something. Guess he got tired of standing around waiting for me and decided to make some breakfast. Let’s go see if he’s done or if he needs some help.” The man rubbed the top of Changbin’s head before getting up and opening the door. Changbin followed him out of the room and down the stairs, sticking close to the man. He doesn’t know why but sticking to him makes the warm feeling stay longer, so he wanted to hold on to it for a bit longer.

**——**

Minho heard the pitter patter of claws on the kitchen tiles and smiled. _Guess Chan finally got them out of their daze_. His smile grew when he saw how close the shapeshifter was to Chan, even giving Chan a quick look of amusement. Chan just shrugged him off and held a small smile on his face while petting the shapeshifter. They seemed so content and calm near Chan, it amazed Minho how Chan’s aura could calm even the most anxious hearts.

“Well look at you two, I’m almost done with breakfast. We are having pig blood curd and congee-“ Minho came close to the shapeshifter and bent down, testing the waters when he lifts his hand up towards their nose. Minho hoped that whatever Chan told them helped in easing their hesitance around him. The shapeshifter pushed his hand up onto their head and leaned into it, almost falling over when Minho started rubbing their head. Minho laughed at that action. He could tell that his wish for this day to be day one of their road to recovery was answered and he couldn’t wait to see them blossom into a better being.

He heard the curd start to boil and he gave the hyena another smile before asking Chan if he could set the table. He also asked the hyena if they wanted a little bit of food, like the size of his hand or if they would like a bowl size amount. It was a pretty weird thing to do, having the shapeshifter pick their choice by poking his hands with their nose, but Minho didn’t want to give them too much food. He didn’t want them to think that they were forced to finish all of their food if their stomach wasn’t allowing them to. 

With the table already set and breakfast hot and ready, Minho was quite happy with how the morning worked out. He was getting complimented for the food, the shapeshifter seemed more relaxed than ever before, and the warm and content feeling that he was hoping for radiated in the room. He hoped that the home was happy with how things were working out, since they weren’t moving things around as frequently as they did. He would ask Chan about that another time.

For now, the company and food were more than enough to get him out of his thoughts and to appreciate this homey feeling that settled within his chest.

**——**

Changbin was feeling the effects of going from a very emotionally and mentally taxing place where he doesn’t know what a hug nor a loving touch feels like anymore, to a home where two people are asking him what he wants and respecting it. He started feeling very drained after breakfast, after seeing Lino send Chan to bed for the rest of the day. He said that Chan wasn’t really taking care of himself, always putting others before him, and he needed a day all to himself so he could recharge.

So Changbin decided to spend some time in the living room, with Lino making sure that he was okay with being on his own and telling him that he was just in the room next door. With Lino gone and Chan’s warmth already fading from his body, Changbin was starting to become numb. He hated this feeling, with it reminding him of how he had to close off his emotions before being forced into the auction house. Changbin then felt the urge to shift back into his human form, hating the way he felt in his hyena state. Hating how all of the memories were connected with that form when it was something that brought him great joy.

His mind was made by then and, with a final look around the living room to make sure that he was in the clear, Changbin focused on remembering how to change back. It was pretty foggy and a little painful since the last time he was human was one of the saddest days of his life. But it could be compared to a sunny day when thinking about the events that happened while he was a hyena. 

He didn’t notice that his eyes were shut so tightly until after his transformation. The little shapes danced in front of him after opening his eyes and he leaned back against the couch to battle the nausea. He wished that he was able to shift back and forth every once in a while when he was at the auction house; he wouldn’t have to go through this if he did. His human limbs felt heavy and strange, having a prickly feeling going along them.

The only downside of shifting back to his human form was that he didn’t have any fur to cover up his human bits. Which meant that he would have to go upstairs and throw on some clothes without Lino knowing. But that plan wasn’t going to work, as Changbin heard Lino coming back to the living room, talking up a storm about something he found in Chan’s workspace. He quickly skimmed the couch to see if there was a blanket or pillow that he could use to cover himself up and not face the embarrassment of showing his naked human form to someone. Hell, he wouldn’t be able to shapeshift back in time, seeing that the panic would only make the shapeshifting more painful and take longer.He dived towards the small blanket and managed to cover his lover half before Lino fully emerged in the room and tried not to think about all the negative things that Lino could and probably would say when he saw him.

Lino’s face didn’t change to immediate anger nor complete disappointment, like Changbin thought his face would be. He looked surprised and a small smile played on his lips. He raised his index finger and left the room. Changbin felt himself pull a very confused look, not expecting the lack of emotions and actions from Lino. This felt as bad as when Chan came to calm him down earlier, the lack of knowing what was going to happen until it did happen. 

He brought his knees to his chest, making sure that the blanket still covered his bits. He heard Lino coming back down the stairs, humming a little tune when he finally entered. Lino handed him some sweats and a t shirt, ruffling his hair.

“Come to the other room when you’re done, ok? You look like you need something to distract you from how you’re feeling.”

Changbin just nodded and watched as Lino gave him the same smile as before and walked out of the living room. He acted as though nothing out of the ordinary happened and Changbin is pretty grateful for that. He didn’t know what he would have done if Lino asked why he changed out of his hyena form. Changbin was curious however, wondering what Lino wanted him to come into the other room for. If he wanted to talk about it, he could’ve just waited until Changbin was done getting dressed and talked in the living room. 

Putting on the pretty big sweats and extremely big t-shirt, Changbin’s eyes widened as the scent of the shirt hit his nostrils. _These are definitely Chan’s clothes_ , he thought as he scrunched up the shirt in his hands and brought to his nose. He inhaled deeply, the warm feeling coming over him again and he caught himself smiling. He probably looked pretty silly, standing in the middle of the couch area, sniffing Chan’s shirt with a smile on his face. He went to the workspace after that, knocking on the door frame to let Lino know he was there.

“Come in, come in! I need your help on cleaning the mess that Chan made here. I guess he was in quite a rush to leave his workspace in such a disarray.”

Changbin never got to see Chan’s workspace in it’s clean state so the mess wasn’t too jarring to him. He had seen worse and had to clean up much worse. All Lino told him was to place the pile of books to the right of him, the closest to the work desk, on a small bookcase next to it. Some of these books were pretty old and worn, so Lino told him to be very careful and dust them off a bit. 

They worked in a comfortable silence, Lino giving commentary when he saw a book that looked either really old, really clean (meaning that Chan didn’t care for it), or just worn to the bone. It made Changbin chuckle and give little comments on his own, earning a smile or a nudge from Lino, with him saying that he was going to tell Chan the things that he said. He didn’t mind that, he really wanted to get closer to the person who saved him. Changbin felt like they both were hiding some big things from each other and it would be great to get them out in the open soon.

For now, he was content with bonding with Lino and the warm feeling kept growing and growing until-

“Hey...are you alright? You’re crying…”

Changbin wiped at his eyes, sighing a little bit before placing another book onto the bookcase and turning to face Lino.

“Bare with me...I haven’t been able to talk in a while so if my voice comes out as raspy or if my words are a bit all over the place-”

“I will not judge you, little one. Take whatever time you need.”

The nickname stirred something inside of Changbin, mixing it in with the warm feeling and it gave him the slight courage to continue.

“My name is Changbin and this is the first time in a long time that I’ve felt so warm and loved. I don’t think I’m ready to tell you my entire story but I do want to say that I am grateful to Chan and to you. You both have shown me so much love and I’m having a really hard time accepting it? I want to say that I’m sorry for snapping at you this morning, my mindset always wires itself to my time in the auction house, where people would place their hands inside of my cage and touch me while I was asleep. Or I would open my eyes and see someone smiling at me, such a sinister smile before putting a chain around my neck and parading me around. Which explains why I was hesitant with you touching me and kept my distance. But now that I know your true intentions, at least your intentions for right now, I am more willing to be closer to you.”

Changbin felt his face burn and his hands tightening to fists. He thinks that would be good enough information about his past for today. He was starting to have flashbacks to the previous events mentioned and he would like to go to bed at a decent time and not be kept up by nightmares. Lino must’ve understood that because he just patted Changbin’s knee, thanked him for sharing and promised to voice his intentions or movement whenever Changbin was just waking up or in a very vulnerable state. 

They continued as they were, with Lino now making commentary on what nickname he should give Changbin. That resulted in a 15 minute debate on why Changbin’s new nickname couldn’t be “streaks” just because of his hair and how it wasn’t a very good nickname. Lino said he would only call him that if he got on his nerves, which Changbin said that he will only get on Lino’s nerves if he called him streaks.

The day continued into night, with Lino and him getting Chan’s workspace cleaned, making some lunch for Chan, and making a mess in the kitchen while making dinner. Lino ended up saying that he needed to take dinner to Chan and see how he was enjoying his day off, which meant that Changbin was forced to clean up the dirty kitchen. He didn’t mind it though, making sure to leave Lino a little floury message for the morning.

When Changbin laid down for the night, his heart was happy, his stomach was filled, and a weight that was settled upon his chest felt a little lighter. 

_Goodnight_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, hi! I really just wanted to come and say thank you to those who have already bookmarked my work and gave kudos to it! Thank you so much for that. This story is only in its beginning stages and to have even a little bit support is greatly appreciated. 
> 
> I wanted to ask if there’s anything that you guys want me to work on, maybe some suggestions on what would work on ao3. I’ve preplanned what will be included in the story up to chapter 8 but if there’s anything I should expand on, please comment about it. 
> 
> I do want to mention that in my tags I said that this will have inconsistent uploads but I made a schedule for myself that’s reasonable enough for me to not be stressed out by deadlines. 
> 
> Chapters will usually take one week and 2-3 days to finish and I usually write two chapters just so you guys aren’t waiting for too long for just one chapter. And that sunday after the last chapter is fully written will be an upload day, unless I finish the chapters fairly early or late. Then they will be uploaded either the next day or on monday.
> 
> Okay, okay I’m done with my ranting. Thank you guys for even reading this!! mwah mwah !


	6. Cognizance

(cw/tw: anxiety mention, blood mention, auctioning mentioned (backstory))

Chan woke up to Minho shaking him from his slumber, mumbling something about needing to go away for a couple of days, and then rushed out of the room. Chan’s fuzzy brain couldn’t keep up with all of the commotion which resulted in him staring at his slightly ajar door in utter confusion. After rubbing his eyes and sitting up, he heard the front door close rather harshly. 

He furrowed his brows at the sound. Minho never told him why he needed to leave and why he had to at the middle of the night but it must have been pretty urgent. Chan’s nerves spiked with anxiety, sending his brain into a frenzy of wanting to go after Minho and help him with whatever was going on. But he knew that he couldn’t leave the shapeshifter alone in his home, in a place that they are still pretty unfamiliar with. Hell, besides the first night he brought them home and to calm them down yesterday morning, he hasn’t been able to really bond with them.

That reminded Chan to make an effort to change their bandages and take a look at their wounds, not knowing whether or not Minho was able to yesterday. He knew that the shapeshifter and Minho had some sort of connection with one another and maybe it was made a little stronger yesterday. Which was great and made Chan smile a bit at the prospect of the shapeshifter actually being comfortable in his home. He just hoped that soon they would be comfortable enough to call it theirs.

Knowing that he won't be able to fall back asleep anytime soon, Chan got up from his bed and stretched. The cracks and pops of his joints made Chan freeze a bit, laughing as he thought about how his own body was calling him old. That made him think about how much time he spent with himself, Death, and the spirits and that maybe those constant interactions were the reason why he thought of himself as an old soul. 

Random thoughts aside, he went to his usual spot in his room, smiling harder when the window suddenly opened. The mixture of morning and night air caused Chan to shiver as he leaned against the window sill. He enjoyed the quietness of the world around him more now than before, since he’s not alone anymore. Back then, he associated the quiet with the forced loneliness that he had to deal with. But now, seeing the darkness slowly fading into light and feeling the energy in the house shift as it starts to wake up.

_ I should probably check on the shapeshifter _ Chan thought, reminded of the fact that they enjoyed having someone sleeping next to them. He tapped on the window sill, saying a little good morning to the house, and left his room after getting a breeze that smelled of rain. 

The house must be in a weird mood he thought and made a mental note to head into the workspace to check in. Sunlight peeked through the small circular window on the other side of the house and Chan sighed at the sight of dust particles dancing slowly in that sunlight. He made another mental note to clean up a bit more and groaned when he thought about his workspace again. He left it quite a mess when Death came and the thought of dealing with it today made his head spin a bit.

A noise coming from the shapeshifter’s room broke Chan from his thoughts and he rushed in. The shapeshifter was cowering in the corner of the room, paintings thrown astray and one had a gaping hole in it. Chan softened when he locked eyes with them and walked towards them slowly, telling them why Minho wasn’t there. He made sure to use “Lino” and the immediate relating of their shoulders made Chan’s heart leap a little. The shapeshifter was still shaking when Chan got closer to them and practically barreled into Chan’s chest.

The next couple of minutes were spent with Chan sitting on the floor, rocking the shapeshifter as they continued to shake and let out quick breaths of air, warming Chan’s midsection. He looked over as much as the shapeshifter’s body as he could and saw that one of the bandages was torn with little spots of blood around it. And the others looked dirty and worn, solidifying the idea that the shapeshifter really needed a bath.

Chan ran his fingers through their fur as he continued to rock them, waiting until their shaking finally stopped before asking them to look at him. Their body went rigid and Chan shushed them through running his fingers through their fur again, telling them in a soft voice that he only wanted to ask them something. They were still pretty tense when they finally raised their head to look at Chan, but he just smiled at them and scratched under their chin.

“Hey there little one, sorry your morning started off like this but I think I can make it a little better. Do you think that it would be okay if you get to have a relaxing bath and I could rewrap your bandages? And then I have a couple of chores that I need to do around the house but you can accompany me during them? I can show you a couple of things that’s in my horribly messy workspace.

Chan thought he heard the shapeshifter snicker but before he could say anything about it, they decided to get up from his lap and head into the bathroom, nodding their head towards it when they saw that Chan was still sitting on the floor.

**——**

Changbin’s nerves were so high and wired this morning, waking up from another dream that mixed his time in the auction house with the horrors of his mind to finding that Lino was nowhere in sight when he awoke. He didn’t even realize that he suddenly changed back into his hyena form while sleeping, which must have been a defensive mechanism to defend himself in his sleep. He jumped out of the bed when he didn’t feel their warmth around them, searching the room in a frenzy that caused him to trip and slam into the corner packed with paintings. Changbin’s body groaned and he felt the painting’s frame pierced into his side, making him start up a yelp before Chan came rushing in.

He was scared, he just ruined Chan’s sleep and one of his paintings and he didn’t know how Chan would react. His body instinctively started shaking, a little more visible than how it usually reacts. This could be because he felt safe yesterday and didn’t have the need nor the urge to fight his way out of this situation. But now that he had done something bad, something that could change this safe feeling into one of complete fear, his body was reacting ten times worse.

But of course, this was Chan that he was talking about and while he was pulled into his lap and had his fur petted, he told himself that his fears and trauma were the only things keeping him from feeling safe in the most complete sense. That he was going to be taken care of properly and become his own person. Not just a shapeshifter. So, after Chan told him what happened to Lino, which didn’t ease his nerves entirely but it was better than nothing, Changbin thought that this was a good time to calm himself down a bit more. His breaths were still coming out pretty quickly and he knew that he would need to “turn off” his brain for just a bit.

He was close to getting there, his body relaxing more and more until it tensed up again from Chan’s words. Changbin knew he didn’t need to be scared of him, that this man holding him and occasionally humming to himself wasn’t going to go and hurt him. But his body didn’t believe him, automatically thinking that he was one of  _ them  _ and that being in his arms was a trap, especially now. 

But once again, this was  _ Chan  _ he was with and with reassuring pets and words, Changbin’s nerves were once again calmed. He knew that having a bath and getting his bandages changed would finally give him and Chan the bonding time that he didn’t know he was wanting. The time he spent in Chan’s lap made him think back to yesterday, where he was engulfed in the warm feeling that Chan brings with him. His heart yearned for it and he should be able to give his heart what it wants, even if it’s something as small as wanting company.

The bathroom was bathed in a soft morning glow, the black of the bathroom seemingly glistening. He was staring so hard at the light dancing off of the sink surface that he didn’t notice Chan coming in. The sound of running water made Changbin jump a bit and turn his head towards the source of the noise. The smile that he found on Chan’s face after locking eyes with them made his brain short circuit and he subconsciously moved closer to where Chan was sitting, which was on the edge of the bathtub. His hyena form must have thought that the only way to show his appreciation was to lick at Chan’s fingers. 

Changbin recoiled when he saw how fast Chan snatched his hand. That quick motion shook him out of his dazed state and he started backing away slowly before Chan called out to him. He stopped abruptly and stared at the bathroom floor.

“Hey little one, I’m so sorry. I was in my own head while preparing your bath that I reacted before I knew what was going on. You can always lick my hand or do whatever makes you comfortable and I won’t be upset about it. The water is at a good temperature now so you can come over whenever you are ready.”

Changbin slowly picked his head back up and sat there for a while, calming his shaking body through deep but slow breaths. It didn’t take too much time though and he walked over there. Chan sat on the floor after turning off the water, patting his lap. Changbin faced Chan, staring at his face while Chan unwrapped his dirty bandages. 

If Changbin could describe what Chan looked like when he was concentrated in only two words, it would be tongue and eyebrows. The furrowed eyebrows were the first thing that Changbin noticed, seeing that the color of them were a stark contrast compared to the hair that peeked out of the hoodie Chan was wearing. Blond hair and brown eyebrows, a contrast that Changbin didn’t think would go together, worked wonderfully on Chan’s pale skin. Next was the tongue, which peeked out of Chan’s lips or came to wet his bottom lip before going back inside of his mouth. Changbin thought it was a little funny and went to lick Chan’s nose.

The smile that ended up on Chan’s face afterwards, with shocked but soft eyes accompanying it, allowed Changbin to really see Chan's face as a whole. He was the sun, giving off soft but powerful rays of light whenever he smiled. 

And Changbin was falling deeper into that warm feeling that encased him the day before. 

**——**

Chan thought that the wounds would be way worse than what he was seeing, besides the new one that will take no longer than a couple of hours to heal. After checking them over and seeing if the wounds were fit for getting wet without causing the shapeshifter much pain, Chan asked them to step into the bath. The shapeshifter looked over at him before laying down in the bath and closing their eyes. 

Chan laughed at the action “Hey, I’m going to start getting your fur ready for bath time, ok? Yip or nip at me if I’m being too rough.” The shapeshifter opened one of their eyes and licked at Chan’s hand. Chan took that as a sign to start and he got up and went over to the closet, pulling out a brush and a pair of scissors before heading back. Setting the items down, Chan told the shapeshifter what he was going to do, since some parts of their fur was matted and he was reading up on how to properly take care of their fur. 

His past self probably would have laughed at himself if he found out he used almost half of his time on his spontaneous off day looking up information on what a proper bath time and grooming would look like. Although he is using information about a proper dog bath, he thinks it would work out just fine. Chan petted the shapeshifter to calm his own nerves, anxious about if he was going to do a botched job. 

He took his time, however, snipping little sections of fur at a time and brushing through those sections to double check for other knots. Chan mentally slapped himself though, since the shapeshifter’s underside was wet and that was the  _ one thing _ that he wasn’t supposed to do. He will get to that point when the time comes. He is also clipping and brushing hair with water already in the tub, making it stick to the sides of the tub. It was becoming pretty clear to Chan how inexperienced he was with this, but he thought that this was good practice. So, he focused on the last knot on their back before brushing through their entire back, satisfied with the lack of knots.

He moved to the top of their head next, being very careful around their ears. Which kept flicking whenever Chan clipped a knot near them. After brushing through the top of their head, Chan took a step back. His job wasn’t bad because of this being his first time. It was bad because of how much he had to cut off and try to even out with the rest of the fur. It looked like he gave the shapeshifter a very close shave, almost shaving them completely in some areas. 

Now came his  _ favorite  _ part of the entire cut; their stomach area. Chan mentally prepared himself with a deep sign, causing the shapeshifter to open their eyes and look at him. 

“I’m going to have to start cutting on your chest and your legs now. Uhm...you could lay on your back while in the bath.” The shapeshifter looked at him for a while and Chan stared back at them with a hint of confusion before widening his eyes. 

He rushed over to the closet and got a small towel, shampoo and conditioner. He could feel his cheeks heating up when he sat back down near the bath, giving the small towel to them and turning his back. “You can put that...down there, just so that it will give you some privacy while I cut..” 

Chan felt pretty dumb. He didn’t think about how uncomfortable it would be for the shapeshifter for Chan to be down there, especially with the history that they had. The shapeshifter gave out a little yip and Chan turned around. He told them that he would tell them when he was getting lower, wanting to give them time to back out. Chan could always leave those knots for another time when they were more comfortable. They gave another yip and the wagging of their tail splashed Chan’s shorts and legs lightly. 

Chan chose to hum a little while he cut, checking in with them after a couple of cuts before going lower and continuing the process. The knots on their stomach and chest were worse than the ones on their back and head. Chan’s heart clenched at the thought of these knots developing and tightening against their skin, giving them more pain than what they were already dealing with. The house shook from the anger in his heart and Chan willed himself to calm down before he scared the shapeshifter.

He cut the rest of the knots slowly, constantly checking the shapeshifter's face for any discomfort. This cut was bad, with some spots coming pretty close to being bald spots. But this was good for the overall health of their coat, or this was what the dog site said so Chan was sticking to it. However, the amount of hair in the bath looked like the amount of hair that you would see if a hair shop flooded during their busiest hour. 

The shapeshifter seemed like they were unbothered by the amount of hair surrounding them and it calmed Chan’s nerves a bit. He turned the water on, fishing out the large clumps of hair before they reached the drain, and started finished with the underside of the shapeshifter by brushing it. When he was finished with all of that, which seemed like a lot since it was barely light out when they first started and now the sun was high in the sky, it was finally time for the more relaxing part of a bath to begin. 

**——**

Changbin didn’t think he would feel much of a difference when Chan was clipping away the knots in his fur. They have always been a part of him for as long as he could remember. They had gotten a lot tighter this past couple of months, but the relief that he felt now was indescribable. He felt lighter and a relaxing feeling fell upon him. He almost didn’t feel Chan poking at him, asking him if he was ok. He let out a little yip, opening his eyes after having them closed for what seemed like the entire time he was laying in this bath. There were little hairballs in the water with him and strands sticking to the sides of the tub.

His body wanted to panic, thinking that Chan was trying to shave him bald and sell off his fur. But that was a stupid fear of his because he could feel his fur on his body and there was plenty still there. So, after some counting and having the water being turned on by Chan distract him, the panic subsided.

The warm water rushing close to his ears did get a little loud after a while and it forced him to turn over and lie on his belly again. He heard Chan snicker a bit before he poured the water over Changbin’s body, saying something along the lines of wanting to start on his back and head first anyways.

Changbin hadn’t had someone give him a bath or wash his fur in a long time, maybe the last time was when he first discovered he was a shapeshifter and he came home after running through the woods for a while. All he could remember was the sensation of hands calmly scrubbing through the dirt and mud that was caked in his fur and the feeling of sweet bliss that followed it.

Chan’s hands were a little rougher but still the gentle touch and scrubbing was there. Changbin could feel Chan’s hands making diligent circles and raking his fingers up and down his fur before pouring water over the area and starting again. It was more than the bliss that he felt before, this feeling was making his sleepy and overly relaxed. And when Chan reached his head and started massaging the shampoo slowly, Changbin couldn’t help but close his eyes and let himself drift off into this feeling of complete calm.

He must’ve gotten so calm that he shifted out of his hyena form because the next thing he feels is something being laid over his bottom and then Chan’s hands back in his hair. He wanted to open his eyes and look to see what Chan placed on him but Chan was tilting his head back before pouring water on his head. When that was over, Changbin opened his eyes and was face to face with him.

“Looks like my magical fur washing fingers turned you human. Had to place a towel on you because of them.” Changbin’s eyes widened at that and he suddenly sat up and wrapped the towel around him fully. He tried to tell his body and brain to not make him blush, especially at this time. But when he turned his head to have Chan and to come up with some sort of apology, Chan giggled like a little school girl.

“Your hair is a nice color, a little sandy brown color with darker brown streaks. It’s funny how your hyena color is your hair color or is it that your hair color is your hyena fur color? Anyways, the point is it suits you and your eyes...Wow sorry I’m gushing because this is the first time I’ve seen your human form..”

Changbin just stared blankly, trying to wrap his head around the fact that he was here, with a person he only met a couple of days ago, partially naked and having the most random conversation about his appearance. He was so used to being forced back into his other form and not giving praise for his human one that this interaction felt weird, but in the best way possible.

“You don’t think it’s...not as pretty as my hyena form?” Changbin covered his mouth after he realized what he said. He doesn’t dare look at Chan’s face, instead he occupies his attention on running his index finger over his towel. He hears Chan chuckle a bit and suddenly his head is turned in Chan’s direction again.

“Both of your forms are amazing and the prettiest I’ve ever seen. You should show both of your forms whenever you feel comfortable. This is not me telling you that you need to be in your human form all the time, nor am I saying to lessen the amount of time you spend in your shapeshifted one. I just want you to come to enjoy being in both forms and are able to switch from either one with ease. Okay?”

Changbin nodded, his throat tightening through the whole speech Chan gave. “But it’s hard, no one cared about this form, the favorite form is the hyena one because it looks better, at least that’s what they told me before selling me to the auction house” 

Changbin didn’t know what came over him, but like the day before he felt the urge to just let everything out. He wanted to tell his story and get these things off of his chest, thinking that it will help erase some of the embarrassment or shame that he felt whenever he changed back to a human. Before he was able to release the floodgates, Chan ruffles his hair and gets up. 

“Before we go deeper into this, let’s get you out of this hair filled tub and into some clean clothes ok? I’m gonna give you some privacy to finish washing yourself but I’ll be in the other room, in case you need me.”

Changbin’s mouth was still agape when Chan left the bathroom and continued to be when he finished washing up, switching out the oatmeal smelling shampoo for a bar of soap that made him smell like clean linens. The smell made him feel like he was sleeping in a cozy bed with freshly cleaned sheets. Rinsing off the soap and hair that clung to him was a bit of a challenge since the hair clung to places that made his eyes widen. But when it was all over and done with and he stepped out of the bath, getting a good look at himself in the mirror, he saw this boy with wet shaggy hair that’s in desperate need of a hair cut and he doesn’t;t know whether he likes them or not.

Chan left some sweatpants and a t-shirt on the counter, which was weird to Changbin because he didn’t hear the door open nor hear Chan announce himself before dropping the clothes off. He brushed it off as Chan not wanting to disturb him and got dressed quickly, having to tighten the sweatpants to ensure that they didn't fall off of him as he walked. 

Entering into the bedroom made Changbin realize two things; Chan must’ve cleaned up the mess he made earlier this morning because he didn’t see the painting with the gigantic hole in it and the room felt different. It was almost as if he walked into a different room that had all of the same furniture but a different...aura?? It was brighter, calmer, made the warm feeling that is now a constant feeling swell up again.

And then there was Chan, sitting in the middle of the bed, staring off at the window before side eyeing Changbin and smiling at him. If Changbin could describe how Chan looked at this moment, he was ethereal. The image drew him in and he sat at the edge of the bed, making Chan look in his direction fully.

“You smell nice, I hope that the oatmeal shampoo and conditioner doesn’t dry out your hair though, since it was for your fur...still a little confused about that.” Changbin snorted and shrugged. They will find out about that soon. He fiddled with the strings on his sweatpants, trying to bring back the courage that he had in the bathroom.

“Hey, don’t stress yourself too much, I know I said that we could talk more about what you said but if you’re not up for it then that’s ok.” Chan ruffled through his hair afterwards. But Changbin wanted to do this, his heart was going to burst due to all of this love he was getting and he felt that he should at least tell the ones who’s giving him all of it about the events that brought them together. 

“How about...I tell you one thing and you tell me something about you.”

“Okay, little one. Hm...I have a bit of a big one that I should get out of the way so maybe I should go first?” Changbin shrugged and noticed that Chan started to bite his bottom lip again, and furrowed his brows. This thing that Chan needed to tell him couldn’t be as bad as what he needed to say, right?

“I know Death, kinda on a personal level, and they came to me on the night that I rescued you because they once again meddled in someone’s life. But I can assure you that they can not hurt you while you are in my care and they won’t-“

“Chan, I don’t mind that you know Death.”

“You...you don’t?”

“No, you couldn’t have known that they were going to make my life a living hell because you wouldn’t have come to rescue me if that was the case. You wouldn’t have cared. Death told me that my family, my friends, even random people will love me because of my shapeshifting abilities. I was hiding it for a while and feeling miserable about it until they came. But when I showed it to my family and friends, they screamed and said that I was dirty. Said that there must be a witch around and sold me to the auction house to protect themselves. Then the auction house told me that my hyena form was better, prettier, than my human form. They made me stay in it, showed me off only when I stayed in that form. You came at just the right time, they were getting desperate and thought that they could make a fortune by selling me off as a hyena and nothing more. Guess people there had a weird thing for having “exotic” pets…”

Changbin didn’t realize that his hands were curled into fists, knuckles turning white and leaving imprints of his nails in his palms before Chan rested his hands on them. 

“I guess I proved their point by giving them 1.2 billion won for you. Thank you for telling me, little one. I’m sorry that Death meddled in your life and caused you all of that pain. I don’t even know if they’re truly sorry for what they got you into. They could’ve stopped it before you got into the auction house-”

“But they didn’t and you don’t have to apologize for them either. They are an entity who dabbles in human problems because they are bored. Don’t think that you have to stick up for them just because you know them.” Changbin hesitantly ran his fingers through Chan’s hair, moving the hoodie from hiding the rest of his hair. Chan smiled a little at that, leaning his head towards Changbin’s hand.

“Thank you, little one.”


	7. Rapport

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please read the ending notes to get a uploading update! Thank you <3

(cw/tw: death mention)

If Minho was gone for a couple of days then Chan wouldn’t have gotten too worried about him. He knows that Minho is fully capable of handling himself, even if Chan never actually saw him fight. He didn’t have Chan before Death meddled in his life so of course he is able to take care of himself.

But it has been more than a couple of days, hell, it’s been longer than a week since Minho left the house in such a rush. Chan’s worries weren’t only his own, it was a collection of Changbin’s and the house’s. Even though the relationship he and Changbin has is getting stronger, he can still tell that Minho had a diffrent bond, something that Chan couldn’t fully replace in his absence. 

The house, on the other hand, was going through the motions of missing someone. Usually they aren’t too affected by who comes and goes but with Minho as well as Changbin, they are becoming more animated. Whenever Minho or Changbin laugh or both of them laugh at the same time, the house gets a little excited. They watched over Minho when his wounds were healing and although they didn’t do too much meddling with Changbin, Chan can still see a difference in them. They must’ve gotten attached to the new additions of Chan’s makeshift family.

That’s why it's a bit hard for him to see them this way, especially while he’s trying to crack down on the pile of client work that he still needs to get through. They are his aid and give him ideas when he can’t come up with anything helpful. But right now, they’re distracted, making the aura a bit unbearable to work in. They were also making things randomly fall off of the bookcases and make a breeze blow a little too hard so that Chan has to scramble to protect the charms before they hit the hard wood floor below.

Chan decided that after a particularly hard breeze almost ruined a charm that he was currently working on, they both needed a break. He stopped doing what he was doing and sat in the middle of the floor, closing his eyes and calming his racing mind. 

“You haven’t talked to us like this in a while, Chan” He smiled after hearing that and feeling the soft fingertips of the spirits combing through his hair. They must be overly anxious for them to come out in spirit form to talk to Chan. He can usually know what they are saying through the creaks and groans of the home, or through the breezes that they send through the house. But he’s guessing that there are some words that can’t be spoken through those noises alone.

“I’m sorry about that, you know that we both have been very busy taking care of Minho and Changbin.”

“That is true, we really enjoy their company and it has been keeping that ole nasty Death away from here for longer than a couple of days.” Chan chuckled when he heard the rest of the spirits agree with that statement. They don’t exactly care for Death and their irresponsible ways but the spirits won’t say that to Death’s face of course. 

“Speaking of enjoying their company, we both must be pretty worried about Minho and how long he has been gone. You all usually keep me in check when I get this worried, but I guess since it’s been a couple of days-”

“What if he got hurt again? What if Death got to him again, trying to redeem themself and Minho got hurt as a result of it?” A wind started picking up around the workspace, swirling around enough to create a little tornado in the middle of the room. Chan felt the bottom of his shirt get pulled closer to the tornado so he quickly squashed it with his hands.

“Enough of that, you know how destructive you get the more worried you are. Minho said that he needed to do something important and he didn’t say when he would be back. It could be today, tomorrow, or next week or next month. Who knows! He also didn’t say that he needed my help in any way, so this “important thing” that he has to do isn’t something too dangerous. We just have to trust him and wait for him.”

The spirits' fingers stopped combing through Chan’s hair and their hands quickly grabbed his face and turned his body towards them. 

“That’s the problem, Chan. We have been waiting and we can’t keep waiting without getting more worried and more desperate to know where he is, to make sure that he’s okay. We helped him when he was on the brink of death and now he is gone and we can’t do anything about it. We would have to wait for Death to-”

“What are we waiting for Death to do?” Chan turned his head to the now opened front door and his face broke out the biggest smile he could muster. The spirits shouted, causing a lightbulb to burst above them and their “physical” form to dissipate.

“Whoa, I’m sorry did I interrupt something?” Minho sputtered after hearing the scream and seeing the pieces of the lightbulb scatter around Chan. Chan shook his head and stood up, sweeping up the pieces before turning his attention back to Minho.

Minho was leaning against the doorway, a surprised yet relatively calm expression was on his face and Chan could tell that he wasn’t getting much sleep from the deep seated dark circles under his eyes. The smile that Chan had on his face stayed longer than he intended to but he really missed Minho. 

The house finally calmed down from Minho’s sudden arrival and they were pretty excited, the little swirls of air with pretty little leaves that encircled Minho and overall happy aura suddenly entering the room showed that. They even brought Chan an extra lightbulb that he didn’t know he had. He laughed when they placed it in his hand, giving him a pat on his head before calming down.

“I’m sorry about that, they missed you a lot and we were just talking about you before you came.” Chan looked at the ground after saying that, feeling a blush coming along. He really wanted to tell Minho that he missed him and that it was driving him mad that he didn’t know where he was. But he pushed that want to the back of his mind, and just enjoyed the fact that Minho was back and alive, sleep deprived but alive.

Minho just laughed and patted Chan’s head, jokingly saying that it was because he always makes sure that the plants are taken care of and the kitchen is cleaned after cooking. Chan scoffed loudly and closed the front door before yelling after Minho, telling him that he has kept the house clean all the years that he has been here. That only ended with the house suddenly opening up a random closet and showing Minho and Chan the mess that was stuffed into it when Chan “cleaned” the other day. 

Minho laughed harder than Chan has ever heard him before because of that and Chan had the sudden urge to hug him. He once again shook that thought out of his head and just let himself laugh along with him. 

**——**

Chan couldn’t shake the urge to have a sit down conversation with Minho. He’s been debating about how to go about it without seeming like he was trying to control where Minho lived. He just wanted to reiterate that this home was his and that he didn’t have to feel afraid of living here if that was his concern. He would tell him exactly how many days it has been since Death had paid him a visit and would even tell him the exact plans that he made up just in case Death decided to make a big deal out of nothing.

In all honesty, Chan missed Minho more than he cares to admit. He’s always been like this, getting attached to someone so quickly without knowing if they were going to stay in his life forever or not. He’s really willing to do anything Minho names in order for him to stay longer than a couple of days and then going off to who knows where for weeks at a time. 

He just didn’t know how to approach him about it, so he sits on the couch, pretending to read one of the many untouched books from his workspace as he racks his brain. Minho and Changbin are currently making dinner, one where Chan couldn't help in because he “needed to concentrate on his client work and stop putting it off any longer.” Minho’s words accompanied by Changbin’s snickering in the background made Chan roll his eyes, complaining loudly about how even though this was his home, he couldn’t do anything in it. 

But his brain wasn’t ready to study new ways of calming down the spirits without going back to Minho and Death and how Chan really wanted to have the three of them at home at all times. Wanted to wake up to Minho and Changbin bickering in the kitchen or with them play-fighting in the living room whenever Changbin decided that it was time for his hyena form to get some energy out. He wanted the three of them living together to be the new normal. 

So after a half hour of staring above his book and not retaining any new information, Chan closed the book with a huff and rested his head on the back of the couch. His clients were getting antsy, not used to him needing more time with the charms or with getting their “unruly” loved one out of their home. He couldn’t tell them that he was dragged in two different directions so he really couldn’t take anymore hurting souls when he already had two in physical form. 

He rubbed his eyes aggressively, blinking the little dots away and staring at the ceiling. 

**——**

Minho could see that Chan was going through something, he was sneaking glances at him sitting in the living room while dinner was being prepared. He just looked so lost and at odds with himself and Minho could tell that the book he was previously holding and “reading” wasn’t really being used. Minho decided that he would ask Chan about it after dinner, not wanting Changbin to be worried about him as well. 

The shapeshifter already had enough on his plate, with him still getting used to being in his human form for longer than a second. The good thing was that his nightmares weren’t consistent anymore and the way he dealt with them was calmer, gentler. Minho was loving the progress Changbin was making and he didn’t want to ruin that by adding another concern on top of that. 

Dinner was done while Minho was thinking, with Changbin playfully complaining about how he was doing all of the work while Minho was in la la land. Minho stuck out his tongue at him and called Chan over to set the table. His head snapped up from the couch and he walked over to them with a strange look. Minho poked his forehead and gave him a concerned look, trying to see what was going on in that head of his.

Chan just shook his head and his expression quickly changed when he saw Changbin, giving him a smile and pinching at his cheeks. Minho laughed at the shocked yet pleased expression Changbin pulled before whining and pulling away from Chan’s grasps. 

“Alright, alright the table needs to be set before this food overcooks.” Chan rolled his eyes and made baby noises towards Changbin before grabbing the utensils and plates. After he walked away, Minho poked Changbin’s shoulder, breaking his intense stare directed at the back of Chan’s head and raised his eyebrow at him. The quick look away and the light red color on his ears gave Minho the answer that he needed. So, he grabbed the pot filled with food and knocked into Changbin’s hip, sending him a slight smile before setting the food on the table. 

**——**

It was later in the night when Minho heard the common creaking and groaning of the house in Chan’s room. He guessed that Chan couldn’t sleep either and knew that this would be a good time to ask him what’s been plaguing his mind. He unwrapped himself from Changbin’s sleeping embrace, whispering a promise of coming back in a little while before giving him a kiss on the forehead.

The moonlight was shining brightly in the hallway and the fact that Chan’s bedroom door was slightly ajar made Minho think that the house knew of his plans and was helping him out. 

He knocked pretty light, not wanting the sound to carry since Changbin’s ears were pretty sensitive to noise. When he didn’t hear a response, he poked his head in to see if Chan was truly awake or if he just forgot to close his door after he went to bed. 

But there he was, sitting in his big reading chair with a little candle flickering on the table next to him. He had his eyes closed and his lips were moving. Minho guessed he was speaking with the spirits so he quietly slipped in, sitting on the floor and staring out of the window as Chan continued to commune. 

“What’s wrong, Lino?” Chan asked, not even phased by the fact that Minho slipped into his room without him noticing. His eyes looked heavy and the bags under them looked like they were weighing them down even further. The worry feeling gnawing at his gut grew after seeing Chan’s appearance and he felt himself crawl over to him and rested his hand on his knee.

“I could ask the same thing to you, Chan. You looked like you were in another world before dinner and I was...I was worried.” Minho began, not wanting to start questioning Chan if he wasn’t in the mood to talk about it. But he at least wanted to know that Chan was going to be alright and to let him know that he was there for him. He felt Chan’s hand on top of his and his thumb rubbing in small strokes.

“Oh, I guess you are more observant than I assumed-“ Chan gave a small laugh and he patted Minho’s head before clearing his throat. “-I was thinking about you earlier and before I say this, I want you to know that you don’t have to tell me everything or anything if you don’t want to. I am just worried, ok?”

Minho nodded at that, looking up at Chan with a waiting expression. The gnawing feeling growing a little and he felt the hand resting on Chan’s knee getting clammy. 

“A couple of weeks ago..you just randomly left in the middle of the night and didn’t tell me what happened or where you were going. You were gone for weeks and today you came back and acted as if you never left. All I want to know is...is it still about Death? Is it still the fear of them coming back and bringing you harm? Because I can-“

Minho’s head shot up and he violently shook his head, grabbing at Chan’s other hand and squeezing both of them. “Chan, Chan it’s not you nor Death that makes me have to go on these spontaneous leaves. I really enjoy being here, especially since Changbin came and I would...like to stay here for a while.”

Chan’s eyes widened and Minho saw the faintest hints of blush crossing over his face. He squeezed Minho’s hands. “That’s fine, Lino. Like I said when I first rescued you, this can be your forever home and-”

“I said I would like to stay here...but I can’t. Once again it's not because of Death because I trust you at this point and I haven’t felt their presence near the house in a long time.”

Minho saw Chan’s eyebrows furrow deeply and his shoulders droop a bit. He wanted to pinch his cheeks and wished that his situation was easy enough to solve so that he could be here. 

“So then...what’s the reason?” Chan murmured, not hiding the disappointment that laced his voice. 

Minho bit his lip and pulled his hands away, suddenly not enjoying the feeling of warmth on him. He curled in on himself and placed his chin on his knees. 

“I’m taking care of someone who is currently going through a pretty rough time. I found them when I left the first time. And before you say anything, no I can’t take them here. It would be too much of a new place for them right now, especially after what they went through.”

Minho looked up at Chan and saw his pleased expression, furrowing his eyebrows at that.

“You’re looking at me like I told you I saved a cat and is raising their kittens.” Chan chuckled at that and leaned forward, flicking his finger at Minho’s forehead.

“You just told me that you are taking care of someone who you saw was hurting and you are respecting their boundaries and their mental state by not bringing them here until they are ready. How could I not look at you like this?” 

“And the flick on the forehead was for?” Minho scoffed, rubbing his forehead and narrowing his eyes at Chan. The latter didn’t do anything but laugh, a small little giggle that caused Minho stern expression to turn into a small smile.

“You could have just told me that, you know. I would rather get a “Hey Chan, I'm helping someone and I need to leave right now, I will be fine and will hopefully be back in a few days.” But you-“ Chan flicked Minho’s nose at this point, causing Minho to let out a slight whine and covering his nose. “-you decided to do a speedy explanation to a half awake necromancer and then leave without telling Changbin what happened.”

Minho stopped whining and pulled a pout. When he got the call, he didn’t think about anything besides getting back. He was thankful that over the weeks of him sleeping with Changbin and helping him through his nightmares, Changbin has become a heavy sleeper and didn’t wake up when Minho jumped out of bed. He did regret not waking and telling him though, especially after hearing what happened the morning after he left.

“I wasn’t thinking about any of that, Chan. I thought you would understand that since Death can come at any moment and you would have to leave in an instant.” Minho huffed, laying his head on Chan’s knee and looking at him with a semi serious expression. Except Minho doesn’t mean any harm from what he said and smiled when Chan stuck his tongue out at him.

“Don’t you start, I would have woken you and Changbin up before leaving and told you what happened. I may even ask for your help ahead of time. I am considerate unlike some people.” Chan said, crossing his arms and turning up his nose. Minho rolled his eyes and pinched Chan’s leg.

“You really are horrible at trying to be mean to people. I can bet that the house can be meaner than you.” A creaking in the floorboards caused Minho and Chan to look at each other before laughing. Minho had to cover his mouth to quiet down his laugh and out of the corner of his eyes, he could see Chan’s shoulder’s shaking.

They were still sniffling and having little giggle fits even after the joke was over, enough to make the house groan again to quiet them down. 

“I can’t believe they actually answered, they really are a character at night.” Minho laughed, leaning his head against the bed’s frame and wiping his eyes. Chan chuckled at that and rolled his eyes when the house started groaning.

“They are saying that we both need to go to bed, they are happy that we understand one another now but they’re saying that it’s almost sunrise. Plus, I think Changbin will be coming in soon to see where you’ve gone.” Chan said with a slight giggle and pointed to the door.

Minho followed his finger and giggled. Chan’s door was once again cracked and revealed a very sleepy and cranky Changbin peeking in, a resting pout on his face.

“Binnie baby, did we wake you?” Chan cooed, standing up from his chair and bringing Changbin over and sitting him on the bed. Minho had to cover his mouth seeing Changbin shuffled over, hearing the little noises his feet made when going over the rug. All Changbin did was nod and laid down, getting very comfortable under Chan’s covers.

Minho and Chan took a couple moments just staring at him with adoration in their eyes before Minho peeked his gaze towards Chan and elbowed him. Chan looked at him and nodded his head towards the bed and then towards the chair he was previously sitting in.

“Chan, this is your bed, I can always move Changbin back in the other room and-“

“Lino, please just sleep in my bed? I’ve slept in that chair plenty of times and my back is fine.” The house creaked after Chan said this and Minho pointed towards him and gave him the “I knew they were going to say something” expression.

Chan rolled his eyes and Minho just picked Changbin up before Chan could protest again. He was getting heavier and Minho didn’t know whether to cry or to pinch his round cheeks. But the sight right in front of him, of Changbin resting with the most peaceful expression, caused him to just sigh happily and caress his cheeks. That caused his expression to shift a bit before curling further into Minho’s arms, folding his arms against his chest. It made him look so much smaller.

“As much as I love seeing your enamored expression and a sleepy Changbin, unless you’re going to be sleeping while standing up, I think it would be best if we sleep now.” Chan advised with a yawn, snuggling in his sheets and chuckling when Minho rolled his eyes at him.

“Goodnight Chan”

“Wait...Lino?”

Minho turned back around, looking at Chan’s shy expression. He was sitting up in bed now, tapping his index fingers together as he looked as if he was finding the right words to say.

“Yes?” Minho questioned, shifting Changbin in his arms and checking to see if he woke because of the movement. Changbin’s face didn’t change from the way it was a few minutes ago, still pouty with slight drool coming down his lips. Minho made a mental note to make fun of him in the morning. 

“Thank you, for coming forward and talking to me. I don’t think I would’ve been able to do it.” Chan mumbled, eyes focused on his hands once again, biting his bottom lip gently. 

Minho smiled and walked over towards Chan’s bed once again. Chan’s head popped up and Minho ruffled his hair, enjoying the way the curls wrapped around his fingers and fluffed out afterwards. 

“I think you would have done it on your own time, give yourself some credit. You are just so considerate that you didn’t want to put me in a very uncomfortable situation. You started off with telling me that if I don’t want to tell you what I’m going through, then I didn’t have to.” 

Changbin shifted a little and Minho laid him back on the bed. He thinks that Chan wants to talk a little more and as much as he loves getting this one chance to hold Changbin like a baby, he was still a growing person and his arms were cramping. He sat at the edge of the bed, closest to Chan but still making sure he had enough room.

“I think I would have done it...eventually. Whenever it seemed like it was the right time-“

“Which probably means the next time I had to leave, which wouldn’t have been the right time for the both of us. With you sleep deprived and me frantically leaving the house.” Chan smiled a bit and pushed his shoulder.

“The house is going to need to step up their aura sensing game since we got a mind reader here.” Chan murmured, earning a flick to the cheek from Minho and laughed because of it.

“It’s true though, It would have ended badly and I’m just glad that you didn’t think that you were the one that needed to initiate the conversation. That you needed to start talking. You let me ask you and that helped the both of us.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Thank you for taking the conversation well and not thinking that I’m trying to dictate your life and where you can be. I...I just want you safe.” Chan said softly, so soft that Minho almost didn’t hear it. But when he did, the smile that ended up on his face was something that he hadn’t done in a while.

He tried to cover it up with a little laugh and a cough but it just wouldn’t go away, only getting smaller after he forced it to.

“Wow, I didn’t know you were such a sap when it was nighttime, maybe I should come in here more often.”

“You can literally come in here whenever you want to, not just in the night, you know. Hell, you can even sleep in here, look around I don’t mind one bit. This is your home after all.” Chan assured, nudging Minho with his feet and laughed once again after Minho flicked at them. 

“Go to sleep, Chan. You are so sappy and sweet during the night.” Minho got up and stretched, facing the bed to grab Changbin. Changbin was wrapped so nicely in Chan’s covers that Minho almost didn’t want to disturb him. But, unless Changbin decided that he wanted to sleep with Chan, then he would have left him here. But, with the way he let Minho grab him and curled tighter in his chest once again, Minho knew that it would be a while until he wasn’t sleeping with this baby anymore.

Chan just nodded and yawned, laying down once Minho got closer to his bedroom door.

“Goodnight, Lino. Thank you once again.”

“Goodnight again, Chan. You’re welcome. Sleep well, ok?”

Minho heard Chan hum and Minho got one last look at Chan. His face was covered by his covers, the only thing popping out of it was his hair. His unruly hair already splayed on the pillows. Everything about this, with the way the light was hitting his face made him look ethereal. He looked so peaceful and Minho made another mission. Chan needed to sleep more and it was going to be up to him to make sure that it happens. 

He tried closing the door but his hands were currently full. The house decided to lend him a hand, letting a breeze close the door softly. He thanked them quietly, and was filled with a sense of gratitude. He really did love when they did that.

He paused for a second and asked the house to open Chan’s door once more. He just remembered that Chan had a candle going when he entered his room and he doesn’t remember it being put out before he left. He knew the house was an entity that knew all and probably knows that there’s a candle in Chan’s room, but Minho just wanted to make sure. He didn’t want this to be the one time where he accidentally caused a house fire. Peeking his head into his room, he was met with one of Chan’s eyes looking at him.

“That’s terrifying please never do that again.” He heard Chan snort and Minho shot him a dirty look before looking at the candle near the chair Chan was in. 

“Oh, don’t worry about that candle, the house enjoys having that one on constantly. Don’t ask me why, they never gave me an answer. So, it’s a never ending one that won’t burn out.”

Minho nodded at that, kinda confused but with the amount of things he saw today because of the house, he wasn’t going to dwell on it any longer. There were a lot of questions that he had that he could get answered but he went against it for tonight. He had a sleeping shapeshifter to get in the bed and an even sleepier necromancer that needed to go to sleep, for everyone’s sake.

“But thank you for checking up on me, guess I’m not the only sap here.” Minho just closed the door at that point, chuckling at the way he could hear Chan’s little giggles through the door. He almost rolled his eyes after Chan said that, but then realized that he’s been doing that all day and his eyes were going to stick if he did it any more. He will get back at him though, perhaps in the morning or whenever he remembers this exact moment in time. 

Heading back to the room, Minho felt at ease, a vast difference with how he started feeling before going to Chan’s room. He felt safe and secure, something he hasn't felt in a long time. He wished he could stay longer, maybe even forever.

But thinking like that got Minho in trouble before, because all good things come to an end. So, after making sure that Changbin was on his side of the bed, placed under the covers, Minho decided that he shouldn't get his hopes too early on, especially with what he has going on right now.

For now, he will just enjoy the warm feeling in his chest and the warmth beside him as his eyes closed.

_ Goodnight _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi Hi! I know I said in the tags that there will be inconsistent uploading for this story. But I’ve been keeping a pretty good schedule for it...until now hehe. It seems that I can’t handle writing a story while also trying to develop my drawing skills again.
> 
> So, I know I said that chapters will take a week and 2-3 days to be written and then whenever the second chapter is finished, that sunday will be the upload date. Which is what I want to keep the same except for one thing.
> 
> I will be taking a break (just a week long dw) and then the following week will be when I start writing chapters 8 + 9.
> 
> I’m thinking of taking a week break after every upload, just to relax and make sure that I don’t burnout. 
> 
> Hm, also if you guys catch something in my story that you would like to have tw/cw, please tell me in the comments. 
> 
> Thank you, love you <3


	8. Terra Firma

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We will talk about my disappearance in the end notes hehe <3

( cw: Death mention (the entity), anxiety mention, physical abuse mention)

Chan wished that the universe wasn’t out to get him, to ruin the small sanctuary of peace that he made within his little home. But sadly, all good things must come to an end. 

Death showed up in his room while he was still asleep, getting tired of watching the peaceful look on Chan’s face. They woke him up by flicking his forehead, snickering at the shaken up look that appeared on his face. 

Chan took one look at Death and rolled his eyes, rubbing his forehead and sighing very loudly before getting out of bed. 

“You know, you could’ve just woken me up without inflicting pain.”

“You know we don’t have time for ideal chit chat when one of our dear children is crying out in anguish.”

Chan mimicked and pulled a face at the “our dear children” part of Death’s sentence, smiling when the floorboards creaked a bit. Death was playing up this grandiose image of themselves, not realizing how much their “sweet children” now despise them. 

_ Just tell me where they are, and next time you wake me up like that, I will just have to let your “sweet children” talk some sense into you _

Chan shook his head, not trying to get aggravated this early in the morning. He still had to talk to Minho and Changbin about what was going on and he didn’t want to seem pissy. 

Death raised an eyebrow and sighed harshly before telling Chan the limited information that they had about their “sweet child” before disappearing in a cloud of thick smoke. Once again, Chan thought, they were playing themselves up and it was too early in the morning for that.

**——**

The worst part about Death coming around was that it was pretty early in the morning, meaning that Chan couldn’t leave in a rush to go and save this person without alerting Minho and Changbin. This he really didn’t want to do because once again, it was early in the morning so they were probably still sleeping and it was going to be the first time that he was verbalizing what he had to do whenever Death showed up. 

A shower and some thrown on wrinkled clothes later, which he didn’t mind because he was going to throw on his hood anyways, he was shuffling in place in front of Changbin’s room. Although Changbin was sleeping better and the nightmares aren’t getting worse, Minho still sleeps with him whenever he’s here. 

“Chan, please open the door already; I can hear your thoughts from here.” The tiniest giggle could be heard from the other side of the door and Chan rolled his eyes before walking in, leaning against the doorframe. Minho and Changbin were curled up against one another, sleepy eyes trained on Chan’s face as Changbin’s giggles suddenly stopped. 

“You’re leaving?” Changbin wiggled out of Minho’s grasps and sat up, a look of hurt coming over his slightly lit face. Chan quickly closed the distance between the two of them, placing a hand in Changbin’s hair. 

“Death came a few minutes ago-” Chan heard a scoff coming from Minho and flicked his covered form, laughing at the gasp that came out of his mouth afterwards. “So, I may be gone for a couple of hours but rest assured, I will be back later tonight.”

“Can I come with you? I could help!” Changbin started to get up but Minho pulled him back down, earning a startled noise from Changbin and a raised eyebrow glance from Chan. 

“Oh no you will not, didn’t you tell me that your wounds were still messing with you-”

“They are fully healed-”

“And yet you still double over in pain whenever you wake up in the morning.” Chan immediately looked Changbin in the eyes, seeing how flustered he got when Minho brought up his injuries. He had stopped struggling in Minho’s arms and his face fell a bit. 

“Binnie, if your wounds are still hurting you, you know you can come to Lino or me to check and see what’s going on. And even if you were in a good condition to come, I don’t want either you or the person to be stressed out. This is an intense situation and people can do really dangerous things when their emotions are heightened.”

Changbin didn’t look satisfied with Chan’s answer and Minho didn’t look like he was going to be of any aid in calming him down anymore than just holding him against his will. Chan sighed and sat on the bed, placing Changbin’s legs on top of his lap. He rubbed Changbin’s legs, enjoying the way the shapeshifter looked at him with curious yet hesitant eyes. 

“I know you want to help, and I thank you for wanting to. But I really need you to be here, where you are safe and accounted for. You can help me tend to their wounds or show them to their room when I return, okay?” Chan explained, taking a good long stare at Changbin. He was hoping that the shapeshifter could at least see how honest he was being with him. 

Changbin gave a reluctant sigh and, after getting out of Minho’s grasp, patted Chan’s hands. “Alright...at least let me help you pack.”

**——**

Chan hadn’t ventured this far from his home in a while, which reminded him of when he was still an oblivious kid, not knowing that the world was pretty cruel to those who didn’t “fit in.” 

This also meant that his mind raced with intrusive thoughts of what would happen to him in this new place. His already anxious heart couldn’t take much more of his overthinking and Chan tried to find things to ground him. He played with the leaves on the trees and looked at some of the wild flowers and plants that passed his way, writing a description of them down so he could research them later. 

He didn’t think, until he had gotten to the area that Death mentioned, that Death just let him go into these situations without a means of getting there and getting  _ out _ . He clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes, making sure to make another note on the things that he would have to demand from Death if they wanted him to continue doing these rescue missions. 

This area was more rural than the small village Chan lived near, with the houses having space for miles before reaching another one. He enjoyed watching the wildlife passing through and even stopped and watched some cross an old dirt road before disappearing into the forest.

The thought of moving suddenly crossed his mind, wanting to get away from the rowdiness of village life, even with a good distance in between his humble abode. But narrow minded people live anywhere and the amount of weird looks Chan has gotten while here was way worse than the ones he’s gotten in the village. He shuddered at the amount of disgust some of those looks had, which made the thought of moving go away very quickly. 

After breaking out of what Chan could only assume to be the housing part of this rural area, he found something quite strange. Usually, the only thing that would strike Chan as strange would be if supernatural beings were walking around, freely and not being harassed every second of their lives. But this was a different kind of strange, one that dealt with the environment, more specifically the grass.

Dry patches littered the ground, with one giant patch sitting just near a lake. Chan furrowed his brows and got closer to the giant patch, suddenly feeling tense. Whoever was here must’ve been very powerful, causing the ground to wither and dry out. Chan wondered though, if that was even possible since this area was known for getting downpours every other day, yet when he stepped onto one of the patches, it crackled. 

Movement close to the lake caught Chan’s attention and he whipped his head around to see baby blue eyes staring back at him. Chan’s shoulders relaxed and he started to walk towards the figure. He had forgotten that this was the place that Death said they would meet their “dearest child.” But he didn’t know that they would be this scared of him.

He understood that there would be an initial apprehension with him always hiding behind his hood and speaking in such a soft voice, but even when he slowed his steps they still had such a deep seated look of fear on their face.

Chan sat as close to the water as he could without getting too close to them. He saw the way the water rippled near the creature, indicating how hard they were shaking. Their baby blue eyes were staring at him very intensely, with them seeming to back up. 

“Hey, hey, hey.” Chan started, making sure to slowly take off his hood.

“I’m here to come and protect you, I was told that you were in danger and came as quickly as I could.”

The...creature? Chan wasn’t too knowledgeable in the amount of supernatural creatures that graced the earth but he would do a bit of research when he got home to make sure that they were as comfortable with him and his home. Anyways, the creature’s eyes grew wide and Chan saw their eyes start to fill up with tears and then suddenly vanish. They shook their head and wrapped their arms around themselves.

The sky looked a lot darker than when Chan first arrived and as the creature backed off more and more, Chan started to realize that the sky was changing due to their mood.

“You’re one of the Hyades, my apologies” Chan cautioned, bowing deeply towards the nymph. He only knew of this specific nymph kind due to his intense study of how to appease nature gods when certain spirits would rather be one with nature instead of being cooped up in his home. 

The nymph’s look was of pleasant surprise, them coming closer to Chan as Chan continued to bow towards them.

“Arise please, I am flustered greatly by the intensity of your respect for me.” They leaned against the side of the lake, resting their head against the grass near Chan. The sky suddenly cleared up, bringing down rays of sunlight near the two.

“I thought you were one of the...others. They aren’t nice nor do they show any respect for who I am. All they know is that I can make rain appear and they ran with it.”

Chan hummed and tucked his legs into his chest, wrapping his arms around them. He randomly thought back to the thought he had while on the road, about moving to someplace like this. He shook his head at the thought of living with disrespectful and entitled mortals who didn’t know how to control their selfish desires. 

“Are you injured? Is that why you are soaking in this lake here?” 

The nymph raised his hands out of the water and Chan’s mind flashed back to when he first saw Changbin’s wounds. Deep cuts from ropes and chains littered their wrists.

“The water helps but I will need some medical attention to these and the ones on my ankles. They also struck me several times over my course of being in their captivity but those were only brought soon with their hands and feet so the only things that were left from those are bruises.”

Chan clicked his tongue. How can mortals have such a superiority complex that they have the nerve to strike mere gods and use them as domestic animals? 

“I can never understand such people, such mortals...They never know how to show even an inkling of decency to those who are different from them.”

The nymph chuckled and they climbed out of the lake, with a little help from Chan of course. 

“You make it sound like you have transcended the mortal realm and have become a deity yourself, blond one.”

The nymph began walking away from the lake, letting his feet rest inside of the dried patches from earlier. To Chan’s surprise, the patches didn’t suddenly heal and become like the grass around them, but they did look a bit better than before. 

_ Only time can heal those who have suffered a great deal _

“If only the gods would be as gracious enough to put me out of my misery then maybe I would have, but I think that one in particular likes me as a little errand boy and would like me to stay that way.”

The nymph turned and gave Chan an apologetic smile. Their long lilac hair whipping across their face and sticking to some parts due to their wet state.

“My guardian did speak highly of you, but seeing the way that they are now, it doesn’t surprise me that they would degrade your worth to a mere errand boy. Especially with the things I’ve heard from the clouds and the rivers about the others.”

Chan wondered how long this particular Hyades was in the “care” of those people, since it’s been months since Changbin’s rescue. It caused a shiver to run down his spine at the thought of Death being so caught up in the messes that they’ve made that they forgot to save one of their “children.” 

**——**

They were almost back to the housing district, even though to Chan this was the worst way to go since the mortals would be able to see the nymph in their most weakened state. But they wanted to take the “scenic route” and see the world that they were missing. 

But the way that they gawked at the wildlife and the flora of this area, Chan began to realize that these seemingly normal and otherwise ordinary things that he saw whenever he went outside, sparked so much interest and joy in this nymph.

It made his wonder increase and his curiosity got the best of him. 

“Forgive me for asking this and you don’t have to answer if it’s something that you don’t wish to speak about, but how long have you’ve been kept here?”

The nymph was looking at a particularly uninteresting bloom of dandelions when Chan asked. They suddenly went stiff and the hand that was gently caressing the weeds began to shake a bit. Chan immediately regretted asking and was on the verge of apologizing when he saw the nymph take a deep breath and close his eyes for a bit.

“I remember when I was first captured, the clouds were telling me about how they were excited about being filled full of the soft white rain.

And the rivers were happy about that because that meant that they could sleep for a little while and the mortals could slide around on them.”

They picked up one of the dandelions and pressed it against their forehead, murmuring something in a language that Chan only knew of from the books. The dandelion was withered and looking as if it was on the verge of decaying. But after the nymph pulled it away from their forehead, the dandelion had a little rain cloud above it.

“And now it’s close to the time where the clouds would tell me how silly the mortals are, how they say that the clouds look like different shapes and things that they’ve seen.

But I can’t hear them right now, they are usually chattier…” The hyades sighed and looked towards the sky. Chan looked as well and wondered if because of their abuse, the nymph has some reluctance to use their power. 

They stayed like that for a while, with Chan giving them some space but also glancing at them just to make sure they were alright. Well, Chan knew that they weren’t alright but there wasn’t much he could do about it. They just told him that they have been away from the outside world for 6 months. Forcibly taken from their environment and made a slave.

So, Chan gave them their space until the sun got lower in the sky and the wind picked up a bit. Until he saw them shiver and offered them his hoodie. The lack of clothing didn’t disturb Chan in the slightest, but even though it was spring, the nights still got a bit colder than usual. Those baby blue eyes looked filled with unshed tears but then there was nothing. And the color turned to a dull one before the nymph placed Chan’s hood over their head.

The walk home was quicker than the walk there, with little conversations filtering between the two of them. Chan learned that there were a lot more nymphs than he first thought.

“They are hidden though, since not a lot of mortals still offer worship to us. Some still do but we know when it’s whole souled and willing.”

“I’m guessing that even those who are still offering worship to you are only doing it to look good in front of others?

The nymph snorted, their head hung low enough for Chan to see pieces of their hair sticking out of the hood:

“I didn’t think mortals would be so fearful of one another’s perception that they would stoop so low as claiming that the gods worship them instead of the other way around.” 

Chan made a noise of agreement and stretched his arms over his head, feeling the joints popping. 

“It’s because a lot of humans think of themselves as higher than the rest and that mindset trickled down to a watered down version of having a god complex. We call it a superiority complex.”

The nymph stopped walking and stared at Chan with a look of utter disbelief:

“Mortals thought of themselves as gods? What for?”

Chan shrugged, stopping to look at the entrance of a town that was just a few steps in front of them. There they would get those same disgusted stares, those whispers that sounded like the words were being shouted. 

“Someone once told them that they were weak if they didn’t take advantage of others. And that’s the one thing that they desperately wanted to avoid.”

**——**

The sky was turning into a bluish purple by the time Chan and the nymph got back to the house. The kitchen light was on, as well as the one in Chan’s workspace. He guessed that it was Changbin who was in there, since the shapeshifter did say that he wanted to help, even if he couldn’t go with Chan. 

Sure enough, when Chan walked through the door, having already told the nymph who and what to expect, he was suddenly engulfed in a tight hug. 

“I missed you too, Binnie.” Chan said with a laugh, running his fingers through Changbin’s hair. He smelled of lavender and mint and still felt very warm, like he had just come out of the bath not a moment ago.

Chan walked a little more into his home, gesturing to the nymph to step in before closing the front door. Changbin had put on some more weight while staying with Chan and Minho, which Chan loved and celebrated quietly. Changbin’s had gotten fuller and Chan made sure to squeeze his cheeks whenever he got the chance.

Changbin lifted up his head from where it was resting on Chan’s shoulder and locked eyes with the nymph. He let out a slight squeak and quickly jumped out of Chan’s arms, clearing his throat:

“Hello Hyades, please forgive me for not giving you a proper welcome, I was excited to see Chan once again, seeing that he was gone the entire day and I was worried sick. I am Changbin, it’s a pleasure to be in your presence.”

Changbin started to rub his hands together, squeezing at his fingers as he bowed deeply to the Hyade. Chan was blown away with how elegant and respectful Changbin sounded towards the nymph and made a mental note to thank him for this later.

“No need for the formalities, Changbin. But I do thank you for that. I see that Chan has either been teaching you about the levels of respect to give to the deities or you are just that knowledgeable in that subject.”

Changbin flushed a bit, lifting his head up after the nymph started to speak.

“You are giving me too much credit there, Hyade. Changbin really wanted to help with your rescue, but seeing that he is still recovering from his own rescue, he decided to learn as much as he could about you. He is a very smart boy.”

Chan ruffled Changbin’s hair and watched the shapeshifter grow two shades redder than before, the tips of his ears getting the most of the pigment. He chuckled and held him close, feeling suddenly affectionate towards him. 

“I see, in any case let me apologize for intruding on your routine as well as not giving you my name after you came to get me. It’s pretty dangerous to give mortals our personal names in case they may do something evil and say that I was the one who sent them to do such a thing. I am Hyunjin, first born of the Hyades and deity of the rains and waters.”’

Chan saw a flash of uncertainty and guilt pass through Hyunjin’s eyes, but once again like the time they were heading back to his home, they went back to their dull color and covered with a sense of pride and authority. So much so that it almost made Chan want to bow towards them, but he caught himself.

“Well, there is still one person that we need to introduce you to and then you are free to come and eat with us or I can show you to your room.”

Hyunjin nodded and followed behind Chan and Changbin, listening to the small descriptions and stories that filtered between the two. They felt a sense of someone or something watching them. 

“Excuse me, sorry for interrupting your little stories, but I am getting an overwhelming sense of someone watching over me. Am I the only one feeling this?” 

The two stopped and faced the Hyade, Chan looking apologetic and Changbin looking at Chan as a way of saying that he too was kinda stuck on how to answer them. 

“My apologies, I forgot to inform you about my profession-“

“Chan, you are speaking formally again, please speak to me as one of your own. For you are the one who saved me and is going to house me for the night, I should be the one who speaks towards you with such respect and grace.”

Chan nodded and faced Changbin, telling him to inform Lino that they will be coming to dinner in a little bit. Changbin nodded hesitantly before almost bowing towards Hyunjin, but stopping himself mid way. Instead he jerked himself upward and walked to the kitchen.

Chan and Hyunjin chuckled at Changbin’s awkwardness and Chan gestured for HYunjin to sit on the couch. 

“Other than being your parent’s errand boy, My actual profession is a necromancer. I help the dead move on or become “useful” to the mortal world. Because of this and because of my tender approach to getting them to “go on”, they will usually ask to come back to my home. 

Which is why you can feel that sensation of someone looking at you, they are just being curious. I will apologize for them now but they may do that during the night. As well as move things around, they are just trying to make sure you’re comfortable.”

Hyunjin hummed and sure enough, the floorboards creaked and Chan laughed a bit loudly, covering his mouth as quickly as the laugh escaped him. 

“I..I’m sorry-“ Chan cleared his throat and could see the slightest of smiles on Hyunjin’s face.

“Sorry okay, so they said that they are sorry and that they would come in their “physical” form to sincerely apologize but they don’t want to startle you. 

Which, I can completely understand as to why they wouldn’t want to do that, since their physical form isn’t the best. Especially if they put it together at the last minute, it takes a lot for all of the spirits to get together and form a solidified form.

But I digress, they also said that they will take care of you during the night so that you don’t have to worry about anything and can sleep peacefully.”

Hyunjin's smile looked a bit wider than the one they gave initially, but those sad eyes are back and looking so ready to release those tears. Chan hopes that they will allow themselves to cry eventually, but he doesn’t want to intrude. Everyone has to go through their own battles.

“Well, I’m guessing that they can hear me, so thank you spirits of Chan’s home for caring so much about me, even though I have only been here for such a short period of time. I owe you as well as the rest of the residents my thanks and many other things.”

The house groaned and let a gentle breeze brush through Hyunjin’s hair, earning another small smile from the nymph. 

“They are just cooing over how respectful you are, they don’t know much about deities, other than your parent, so the bar is to the ground for them.”

Hyunjin laughed so softly that Chan almost missed it, making his heart leap a little at the quiet sound.

“But now I think that we should head to the kitchen, I don’t want to be on kitchen duty again because I “held up” everything again.”

**——**

Dinner ended pretty uneventfully, although Chan is taking that as a good thing. After dinner, he got to take a look at Hyunjin’s injuries, with Changbin wanting to help as well. He wanted to see if he was getting any better at making sure that the injuries were thoroughly disinfected and wrapped properly. 

Luckily, Hyunjin’s injuries weren’t infected, although they could’ve gotten to that state. Hyunjin claims that it was because he got to the water in time, which stumped both Chan and Changbin since they didn’t know that water had healing properties. Hyunjin said that they would teach them the benefits of this “special” water some other time.

With that, Chan let Changbin finish up with Hyunjin, bidding them goodnight as Changbin took the lead in showing Hyunjin where their room would be. 

It was later on in the night, when he was finishing up cleaning the kitchen, which he knew he would have to do, when he heard the stairs creak and furrowed his brows. 

He didn’t think anything of it, wondering if the house was being more lively even though everyone should be asleep. The sudden creaking and groaning on the kitchen floorboards caused Chan to smile widely and then fix his facial expression when he heard a different creak coming from the living room. 

Minho soon entered the kitchen, wearing a ridiculously shocked expression on his face, hands on his hips exaggerating the expression even more. He was in the sweats and shirt Chan gave him when he first rescued him, once again reminding him that he desperately needed to go clothes shopping, as well as plant shopping since the house was getting pretty upset with the upkeep of their plants. 

“The home has already told me what has happened, but I still want to hear what you have to say about it.” Chan looked to see Minho gawking at him, before rolling his eyes and seating himself on the counters. 

“You know,  _ house _ , It would be nice if I could be the first one to tell Chan about things instead of being beaten.” The home sent a quick breeze which caused Minho’s hair to stick up in different places. Chan choked back a laugh and finished wiping down the kitchen table before giving all of his attention to Minho.

“He started blabbing all this very sappy stuff, saying that he appreciates everything that I’ve done for him and the fact that he’s even saying all of this shows how much I’ve improved his mental health. Which I might add, sounds a little kiss assy for me.”

Minho’s hands are very animated and it causes Chan, who is just leaning against the counter, arms crossed over his chest, to laugh at how much of a big deal he was making this out to be.

“Lino, you’re making this sound like he’s breaking up with you instead of just making sure that you were okay with him keeping Hyunjin company for tonight, this one night I might add.”

Minho’s eyes widened and he flailed his arms around, hitting one of them on the cabinet door. 

“But that’s the thing-“Minho sighed, rubbing the now pink mark on his arm with a look of disappointment. Towards the cabinet or towards his arm, Chan will never know.

“Changbin hasn’t even asked to sleep with you, yet alone with someone he only met a few hours ago. I’m just strangely worried is all…”

Chan hummed and they sat there for a while, both too caught up in their thoughts to continue the conversation. This was something that even the home wasn’t expecting, seeing how noisy they got before telling Chan the news. But this was such a big thing that Changbin did and Chan didn’t want to think too hard on why it was with Hyunjin instead of him. He will get his chance whenever Changbin feels ready.

“I’m happy for him, don’t get me wrong. I told him that I was so proud of him, one for wanting to help out someone who was in need, as well as checking in with me to make sure that I was okay with it. He didn’t have to do that, Chan…

But there’s a selfish part of me that wanted to tell him that it did make me feel some sort of way, which wouldn’t be a lie, but I am not the one who will stunt a relationship from growing just because of a fleeting selfish thought.”

Chan nodded and placed his hand on Minho’s knee. “These are perfectly fine feelings to have, Lino. You’ve been with him, being his primary caregiver, ever since we rescued him. You saw him at his worst and now you’re seeing him making efforts at being his best. You’re just being a protective parent, not wanting their child to get hurt again and wanting them to always be by your side.”

Minho grimaced and popped Chan’s hand on his knee. “When you say it like that, it makes me sound old and I’m way too young to be a  _ parent, _ you on the other hand..”

Chan scoffed and walked away from the kitchen, earning a soft cackle from Lino when he turned off the lights and rushed up the stairs. 

That didn’t work very well, since when Chan reached the top of the stairs, he saw Minho in front of his bedroom door. He huffed and mumbled something about forgetting about Minho’s vampiric speed. 

“First, you call me old enough to be someone’s parent, and then you block me from getting the good night’s rest that I deserve? You are a cruel supernatural creature.”

“Oh now we are playing the “poor mortal” card? I thought you would rather transcend this mortal plane and be one of us. Maybe you could actually do your little tricks if you were just a  _ bit _ faster than me.”

Chan pouted and folded his arms. He seemed to be doing that a lot nowadays, especially when he had nothing to retort when Minho was meddling with him. 

“Sounds like you’re not going to have anyone to cuddle with tonight if you keep making pretty good points and not letting this  _ poor mortal _ have his fun.”

That sentence gave Chan the chance to push past Minho, who was stunned and taken aback. Chan went over to his window and pulled the curtains closed, he didn’t want the sun disturbing them in case Minho couldn’t sleep and needed more time.

Minho decided that was the best time to fling himself into Chan’s bed, making sure to grab all of the sheets and push them underneath his body. Chan gave him an unamused look, but Minho could see the corners of his mouth twitching.

After a few more moments of bantering and a very short pillow fight that had no winner, they were out. Minho’s face was found buried in Chan’s chest, his hands tightly grabbing onto Chan’s shirt. Chan didn’t seem to mind it one bit, his arm was slung over Minho’s torso, his back facing the window. Even when he is sleeping, he’s being considerate towards others. They were buried in the covers, with Minho’s head only peeking out of them slightly.

And if the house decided that this was a best time to blow out their special candle, since they knew that Chan was going to be alright with Minho beside him, well that will be a secret that they kept amongst themselves.

_ Goodnight _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, so it’s been two months since I updated this story and to be quite honest with you guys, I got burned out so quickly. I wasn’t giving myself adequate time for me to finished chapters, which caused me to stray away from writing. Plus, i picked up drawing again and was really fixated on that. But I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I don’t know when the next one will be up BUT, you can send your questions to my tumblr! @/shygiggle
> 
> It is just a personal account but I can start adding updates about the story if people want! Thank you once again!! <3


	9. Tittering

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s been 3 months hehe...I’ll give you guys an update in the end for now enjoy

(cw: food mention (not in detail) mentions of starvation and abuse)

Changbin doesn’t think that he will be able to handle how this morning is going.

It all started with Minho. He came in when the sun was rising, shaking Changbin and telling him in such a hushed tone that Changbin didn’t know he had, that he was off again and wouldn’t know when he would be back. Changbin’s sleepy form must’ve protested a bit because all Changbin could remember was Minho running his fingers through his hair and kissing his forehead, telling him that he will be back soon.

After that, Chan came in and woke Changbin to tell him that breakfast was downstairs but that he wasn’t going to be with them for it. Saying that he had some errands that he needed to run and wouldn’t be back until the early afternoon. This, once again, must’ve sent Changbin’s half asleep form in a protest because Chan hushed him with a pinch on the cheek and a kiss on the nose. He also told him that he was just a phone call away and wouldn’t be far if anything happened.

So now, an hour after Chan left, Changbin finally sat up, resting his head against the headboard, and recounted everything that had already happened that morning. He was feeling a bit overwhelmed since the responsibilities were suddenly on him. He was so used to being coddled over that he didn’t know the first thing about coddling and taking care of someone else to the extent that he was cared for.

The figure next to him shifted and he told himself to breath, that this wasn’t the end of the world and he and Hyunjin were going to be okay. He mustered up the courage to ask Hyunjin if they were okay with him keeping him company, just in case they had any nightmares, so he could probably handle a couple more hours alone with them.

Hyunjin made a noise that snapped Changbin out of his daze, helping him to refocus on the task at hand.

“Good morning, how did you sleep?”

Hyunjin sat up and Changbin had to suppress the smile that was forming on his face. Hyunjin’s bed head was like out of the movies, with little pieces sticking up in directions that definitely defy gravity, and the sour look on their face made it even harder for Changbin.

“Not a morning person it seems, well the house doesn’t take too kindly to those who skip out on breakfast.”

Hyunjin nodded, obviously still half asleep with the way their eyes were closed and the sour frown on their lips was still there. Changbin snickered at the sight in front of him, making Hyunjin turn towards the noise and pout harder.

Changbin barely dodged what he assumed was Hyunjin’s way of trying to hit him: Their arm was lazily thrown towards Changbin, still not willing to open their eyes, and narrowly missed the tip of Changbin’s nose before one of their fingers caught his bottom lip. The popping noise that came afterwards made one of Hyunjin’s eyes open and they furrowed their eyebrows.

“What was that noise and why is my finger lightly wet?”

“Welcome to the land of the living, Hyade, and you just dragged your finger down my lip, which is what made that noise and is the reason why your finger is slightly wet.”

“I was aiming for an arm or maybe even chest but I guess I aimed too high.”

“You aimed way too high but I’m glad that was the way to wake you up. I would be a very bad host if I went and ate all of the delicious breakfast that Chan made and saved nothing for you.” Changbin threw the covers off of him as he watched Hyunjin scramble out of bed, their foot getting stuck in the covers in the process.

Changbin laughed loudly as he ran out of the door, hearing Hyunjin’s footsteps right behind him. He then turned around before reaching the stairs and looked at Hyunjin. Hyunjin looked as if they almost slipped after having to stop so quickly and gave Changbin a confused look. They were a couple of inches taller than him, but he didn’t mind. They were a nymph after all and nymphs have been known to have certain physical attributes that make them overwhelming and godlike to mere mortals. But Hyunjin’s height made them feel normal, although those baby blue eyes were another thing.

“Are you okay? How’s your foot? I saw that it got caught in the covers and although I laughed I-“

Hyunjin flicked Changbin’s lip, making it make the popping noise again, and smiled.

“Changbin, I am fine. If you are worried about my injuries, they healed overnight although they still sting sometimes. The cover was just caught around my foot, nothing more than that. Thank you for worrying though.”

Changbin nodded and was about to walk down the stairs but then Hyunjin spoke up again:

“With that being said, the healing process for my scars have left me incredibly starving so I guess I’ll be the one eating all of Chan’s-“

Changbin booked it down the stairs, screaming about his own scars and how he needed more food than Hyunjin since he was a growing boy. Leaving Hyunjin to calmly walk down the stairs, smirking and making other ridiculous claims.

——

Changbin (of course) made it to the kitchen first and his mouth watered at the plethora of food that Chan had left for them. The food was still piping hot, all thanks to the house and it’s disliking to the use of the microwave. All Changbin knows is that the electricity needed to use the microwave makes the spirits nauseous, a trait from humanity that somehow lingered even in the spirit realm.

He started making a plate for Chan, knowing that he will be quite drained from being out in the public for that long and needing something to energize himself. Just as he was putting away the food, wrapping it and leaving in the microwave, which caused a bit of a fuss from the home, Hyunjin walked into the kitchen.

“Sadly, Chan has the uncanny ability to make too much food, so I wasn’t able to keep everything to myself.”

Hyunjin snorted and then froze in their tracks.

“You weren’t kidding…”

The tone in Hyunjin’s voice caused Changbin to furrow his brows. They sounded...disgusted? a little nervous? Changbin turned around and gasped at Hyunjin’s expression. They were pale, their hands ghosting over their stomach as their eyes continued to dart at every surface the food was on.

“Hyunjin?” Changbin cautioned, not wanting to mention anything that might set Hyunjin spiraling further. Hyunjin snapped out of their daze, their eyes cutting straight to Changbin.

“I-“

“You don’t have to eat everything, if that’s what you are worried about. Eat as much as you can and only what you can. Like I said, Chan does have a habit of making lots of food, but it’s for us to enjoy when we are ready to and to enjoy however much we want to.”

Hyunjin still didn’t look convinced and Changbin started to see that he was losing their attention again.

“How about this-“ Changbin started, pulling out the same roll of parchment paper that he used to save Chan’s food.

“How about I cover up the foods that are making you feel negative, could be even the tiniest of feelings. If you point them out to me, i'll cover them up and then only the foods that you want to eat will be out in the open.”

The look of immense gratitude that shone on Hyunjin’s face after Changbin’s suggestion made him fluster. He never had his suggestions or even critiques taken seriously before, so seeing someone be overjoyed with them was very new.

Hyunjin nodded and their hands slowly stopped ghosting over their stomach as they pointed out the foods that made their stomach seize up.

——

Hyunjin felt themself release a breath that they didn’t know they were holding after sitting down in the living room to eat. Changbin wouldn’t be sitting directly with him, since he wanted some of the food that made Hyunjin’s mind merge memories with the present day, but he would be joining them shortly.

It didn’t seem like he was too far away though…

“My goodness, your chewing is more obnoxious even when I’m in the living room…”

Hyunjin heard Changbin choke a bit and had to bite down to stifle a laugh from exploding from their mouth.

“Well, like I said earlier-” Changbin swallowed loudly, causing Hyunjin’s face to scrunch up in disgust and had them turning around to face Changbin.

His cheeks were filled with food, making Hyunjin question whether he was even chewing his food or just saving it for later. But, from the crumbs and sauces at the corners of his face, Hyunjin immediately got rid of that thought.

“Yes yes I know, mister “I am a growing boy-“”

“Growing MAN thank you very much.”

Hyunjin chuckled and rolled their eyes. “-A growing man who needs all the nutrients he can get to grow big and strong.”

“Even though I am already strong, in this form and my shapeshifted one”

Hyunjin’s ears perked at the mention of Changbin being a shapeshifter and Changbin must’ve noticed because he flashed them a smile before getting up and placing their now empty plate in the sink.

“Go ahead, ask me any questions that you might have. You look like I just told you one of the home’s secrets.” A loud creak from the floorboards had Changbin furrowing his eyebrows before rolling his eyes.

“Home, I won’t actually tell them any of your secrets. I don’t even know many myself.” Changbin shook his head and leaned his head against his open palm, turning his gaze back to Hyunjin.

“What’s your shapeshifted form? If you’re willing to show me that’s fine as well”

Changbin hummed and stood up from the table, placing his dishes into the sink.

“We should go outside, since I want to burn off all of the calories from breakfast.”

Hyunjin nodded and went to the kitchen to place their dishes into the sink as well. They whispered to the sink that they would make sure that the dishes got done when they got back, by them specifically. The house creaked softly and sprayed Hyunjin lightly, telling them to hurry and follow Changbin.

They laughed and jogged out the front door before freezing. There Changbin was, or at least Hyunjin hoped that this was Changbin, otherwise there would just be a lone hyena in the front yard.

Hyunjin must’ve been standing there for a while, staring at Changbin with wide eyes, because he was jolted out of his trance by a wet nose bumping against his hand. Looking down at the hyena, Hyunjin could see the worry in his eyes.

“Sorry, I was just so stunned by...you. At least in this form I won’t have to listen to your insufferable chewing.” Changbin nipped at their hands, causing Hyunjin to yelp and narrow their eyes at him.

“Alright, you asked for it!” Changbin immediately took off, running as if his life depended on it. Hyunjin let out a soft chuckle and raced after him, tackling the hyena and sending them tumbling to the ground.

——

Chan’s mind was on the verge of exhaustion. He continues to forget how mentally draining it is to go into town to just get groceries and some clothes that would fit his current and future guests. The constant stares and snarky remarks that he got from every cashier that he met was weighing on him. He just wanted to get back home and enjoy the company of everyone.

He heard loud laughing and the sound of people rolling around on the ground, making him raise one of his eyebrows. There they were, Changbin and Hyunjin, dirt and grass sticking to their hair and fur. Hyunjin’s laugh was hearty with little squeaks coming in as Changbin continued to sniff and light at their face.

Chan’s face lit up at seeing Hyunjin so happy and with Changbin being comfortable enough to show his shapeshifted form.

A small drop of rain falling on to Chan’s hood startled him and he looked to the sky. In all of the years that he has lived here, he has never seen a double rainbow sitting so brightly in the sky. The misty rain hitting Chan’s face filled him with such glee that he didn’t notice the sudden silence coming from the other two.

“Welcome back Chan, didn’t know you were a rain type of guy.” Chan side eyed Changbin and turned towards him, rolling his eyes at his comment. He didn’t get to make a snarky comment because the way Hyunjin was staring at the sky. They looked shocked, placing their palms upwards to feel the rain, which was starting to fall harder than before.

Changbin followed Chan’s gaze and furrowed his brows before shouting: “You can control the rain? You’re getting so much cooler Hyunjin!”

Chan laughed and ruffled Changbin’s hair before going towards Hyunjin, who was now aware of his presence.

“I’ve never been able to make misty rain before and that double rainbow is even rarer…” Hyunjin started, the heavier rain slowly leaving the area, moving over into the village. Chan sat next to Hyunjin, feeling that they were going to talk a little bit more about their past. He wanted to place his hands somewhere on Hyunjin, but not knowing if his touch would send Hyunjin spiraling down a dark path while retelling their story.

Changbin must’ve sensed that something serious was going on because he shapeshifted and sat next to Hyunjin, who’s hands immediately latched onto his fur.

“Before I was captured, there were a couple of farmers who would frequent my shrine and pray for rain every once in a while. I would make it rain for as much as I could, listening to the rivers when it was time to stop it.

But they got greedy and because I have to visit the rivers and lakes to see if they were content with the amount of water that my rains gave, they caught me in a very vulnerable time.

They would threaten to tear down my shrine if I didn’t make it rain for a whole day, then a whole week, then two weeks. But they still weren’t satisfied because my rains got smaller and misty as time went on because I knew that the heavier rains would flood the rivers and lakes, messing up the areas that they were in.

So they tore down my shrine..” Hyunjin’s hands tightened in Changbin’s fur and the skies got darker, with the winds picking up. Changbin whimpered slightly, so quietly that Chan didn’t know he even made a sound. But the winds suddenly stilled and Hyunjin took a deep breath before releasing their grasp on Changbin.

“Sorry...they tore down my shrine and then I stopped making it rain, telling them that they were messing with a force of nature and I could mess up everything that they worked for. Of course, they didn’t take too kindly to that. And that’s where the beating started, and then when that only produced slightly harder rain, they started chaining me up and only feeding me when I’ve made it a downpour for weeks.”

Changbin started growling and Hyunjin gave the softest laugh, petting his head

“Don’t worry, I escaped because, and this is going to sound very sad so forgive me, but they fed me so poorly that I got thin enough to escape in the middle of the night. A day before Chan was sent to find me.” Hyunjin looked at Chan with the most vulnerable look upon their face, their eyes watering and lip quivering.

“I know you don’t have the best relationship with Death, and I don’t blame you. I also don’t have one either. But if they didn’t feel that guilt in their heart to send you to help me, I don’t think I nor that area would be the same.”

Chan placed his hand on Hyunjin’s, rubbing his thumb across the back of their hand.

“Death has some good in their hearts, plus this is the first time that one of their children is among the land of the living. So, even though I personally hate the way that they dealt with Minho and Changbin, I’m partially grateful from their judgment for you.”

Hyunjin smiled faintly, turning their hand so that they could intertwine their fingers with Chan’s.

“Oh, in a way I am not a part of the land of the living...but that’s a story for another day. For now, let’s see if a certain shapeshifter has the energy to take on two people at once.”

——

He, in fact, didn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, so like I said in my tags this story will be updated very inconsistently and honestly I still thought that I would be able to put out a chapter every month or every month and a couple of weeks. As you can see, I can’t even keep up with that. I’ve been balancing two creative things @ once and I’ve been drawing more than writing. I am also stopping myself from adding more on my word limit and so these few chapters are just going to be whatever I have time to write and finish.
> 
> Sorry this end note was so LONG but I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Author's Note:**

> Oh...uh hiya!! Once again have no idea how to work this notes system so I’m just writing gibberish right now. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter!! Please leave any comments 
> 
> I hope you have a good day/afternoon/night and have something to eat and drink! You are loved and appreciated, you have done your best, and you will find the happiness you are seeking.


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